why did the moth do this?

Question

i had the stove on ready to heat up and then i turned on the light a few feet above the stove......and the moth must of been on the light bulb and flew in a frenzy directly to the stove wire...got burnt and then flew a few feet and died.

so what exactly happened? did the heat attract it or did it just panic and the heat forced him down?

Answer 1

Moths use moonlight as a directional guide. They can never actually approach the moon thought.
So when faced with an artificial light, they try to use it in the same way, but they run into it and, if it's fire, get burned.

Answer 2

First Dragon is correct: Moths use the moon for navigation.

The moon is so far away that it can always use it to triangulate for direction and position. Any other light source is much too close, so that triangulation causes it to move towards the light source. You'll notice that as a moth approaches the source from far away, it often spirals in until it gets pretty close to the source.

Answer 3

Well as u should no moths are attracted to light especially light bulbs etc. it may have just flown there on accident or the light from the stove just attracted it towards there.

Answer 4

months are attracted to light. Thats why it was on the light bulb in the first place and saw another light shining (stove) so it flew down to it and too bad it died ha.

Answer 5

the light must of have attracted the moth, and the heat probablly did drag it down...but in order to better understand it i think u might be interested in reading a short poem or essay its only like 5 small paragraphs by Vigina Woolf called the Death of a moth...seach it on google or yahoo...she had the same experience as u

Answer 6

Moths are attracted to light.....they are nocturnal insects. Therefore, when he flew down, he was was just flying to another light source. Unfortunately, it was fire.