2007-10-30 13:44:10 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Moths didn't fly *towards* anything.
The general consensus is that moths navigate at night by keeping some dim object in sight. Usually this is the moon, but on moonless nights it can even be a space between trees or dark objects.
When man appeared with artificial light sources (from campfires. to gas streetlamps, to lightbulbs) the moth is absolutely not designed for it and it spirals into the light source. For example, if navigating by moonlight, a moth knows to keep the moon in a certain part of its visual field (maybe straight ahead, maybe to its left, maybe to the right by 10 degrees), and, since the moon does not move, the moth knows it is flying in a straight line. But if there's a lightbulb, as the moth flies past the bulb, it moves in its visual field, so the moth ends up spiraling into the light bulb.
2007-10-30 14:13:02 · answer #1 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Moths are night fliers and navigate by seeing the lighter spaces between vegetation so they can go around instead of bumping into them. With the development of artificial light, their senses get overwhelmed and they hang around bulbs and other bright lights.
2007-10-30 13:51:08 · answer #2 · answered by Howard H 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That didn't really answer her question.
The sun? Candles and streetlights probably.
2007-10-30 13:55:34 · answer #3 · answered by Z 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋