Why do Moths fly to a light (flame) ?

Answer 1

It was thought the moon had something to do with the attraction of moths to light. The so-called light-compass theory held that moths used the moon as a navigational beacon flying in a straight line keeping their direction of travel at a constant angle. The trouble arise when moths made their sightings on a close-up light source like a candle flame.Instead of heading in a straight line, they flew around the flame in an ever-narrowing spiral until finally getting burned sometimes.

Research made by Henry Shiao proved the theory to be incorrect. He found out that moths simply don't fly around lights in spirals. In his experiment he found that the moths flew more or less straight at the light until they got up close, at which point they veered off and circled around it at a more or less constant distance. They seldom actually touched the light.Moths are drawn to light from as far as 200 feet away but once they get near the light they actually try to avoid the light. Hsiao pointed out that moths as a nocturnal insects perceive any source of light as danger and figure out that the darkest part of the sky is safest.The moth doesn't fly directly away from the light due to a peculiarity of vision called a Mach band. A Mach band, which apparently is common to all sighted creatures, is the region surrounding a bright light that seems darker than any other part of the sky.So it circles the light in the Mach band region, usually at a radius of about one foot, depending on the species. Eventually either its momentum carries it away or it finds a dark corner to hole up in.

There are many other theories that evolved yet there are no any scientific data to support them. So why moths fly to light, could possibly be just due attraction or curiosity. (????)

Answer 2

Wikipedia explains this best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moths#Attraction_to_light

"Moths will circle bright objects, and thus appear to be attracted to light. The favoured hypothesis advanced to explain this behavior is that moths navigate by maintaining a constant angular relationship to a bright celestial light, such as the Moon. The Moon is so far away, that even after traveling great distances, the change in angle between the moth and the light source is negligible; further, the moon will always be in the upper part of the visual field or on the horizon. However, when a moth encounters an artificial light and uses it for navigation, the angle changes noticeably after only a short distance, in addition to often being below the horizon. The moth instinctively attempts to correct by turning toward the light, causing airborne moths to come plummeting downwards, and - at close range - which results in a spiral flight path that gets closer and closer to the light source."

Answer 3

Moths are not exclusively nocturnal. Many species are active by day as well, and many are exclusively diurnal.

Insect behaviour is almost entirely instinctive, as the famous 19th and 20th century entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre showed us. He noted that a digger wasp of the genus Sphex would sting a caterpillar and carry it, paralysed, to the mouth of the burrow she had just excavated and deposit it at the entrance. She would then enter the burrow, presumably to check that no unwanted occupant had taken up residence there in her absence, emerge again, collect the caterpillar and take it inside to lay her egg and close the burrow.

After observing this, Fabre began to move the caterpillar a little distance from the hole once the wasp was inside. The wasp would collect the caterpillar and then repeat the inspection process.

Answer 4

Moths navigate by the light of the moon and they orient during the day between the light of the sky and ground. They have primitive optical mechanisms and attraction to light is instinctive. Click on this link for a brief article about this phenomenon.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question675.htm

Answer 5

the same reasons dumb nightclub sluts dance in front of neon lights

Answer 6

no se