Why does a moth fly to the light? What did nature conceive?

Surely, each of you at least once noticed how many moths swarm in the dark time near some bright bulb. But why does the moth fly to the light, does he really not understand that he is choosing a course toward his own destruction?

Only the hypothesis

Experts in the field of science have so far been unable to find and give an unambiguous answer to humanity, which could accurately explain why a moth flies into the light. There are only a few theories and hypotheses that are adhered to by specialists, explaining this phenomenon of nature. Let's look at the most popular ones.

A light bulb instead of the moon

The most common explanation of why a moth flies into the light is the hypothesis associated with the Moon. As is known, many insects in flight are guided precisely by this heavenly body. Moth, traveling at night, takes for the moon an ordinary bright bulb. Did you notice that there are a lot of moths in a light bulb when the moon shines weakly or even hid behind nocturnal clouds?

Striving for a dark area

There is a theory that insects are not rushing to the moon or bright light at all. Many scientists explain why moths fly to the light at night, the need to find the darkest place. They say that insects have no desire for light, but to darkness.

This optical illusion is also called the "Mach strip". Imagine that you have two bars in front of you: white and gray. Scientists say that if you look closely at these bands, then after a while you will certainly see a black dark area between them. Actually, it's not there. And moths - rush to the light in the hope of finding this strip of Mach. But for what they need it, specialists for many years to explain and can not.

Phototaxis

This phenomenon, like phototaxis, can also explain why the night moths fly to the light. It turns out that many insects (including cockroaches, ants, etc.) have an innate motor reaction associated with a bright light. The light stimulus is well observed not only in moths or butterflies, but also in cockroaches. Have you noticed how quickly these insects scatter when the light is lit?

A light bulb instead of the sun

There is another version, explaining why the moth flies into the light. In this hypothesis, the main role is played, in the opinion of some scientists, not by the Moon, but by the Sun. The source of light, ultraviolet light, a source of heat - that's what attracts insects. If a butterfly, for example, gets into a closed dark space, it starts to beat and tries to escape to where the light is, where the Sun is.

Jean-Henri Fabre, a well-known scientist, conducted many experiments in his time, trying to understand why butterflies are so attracted to light bulbs. Experiments have shown that insects have their own specific sequence of actions produced during a day of light. Each type of insect can differ. But even with the intervention of a person in the course of the day's events of insects, they still restore it and follow the path outlined by nature.

Some scientists have come to the conclusion that such behavior of butterflies is associated with some kind of natural malfunction, which they appeared in connection with the appearance of man. There is an opinion that in a few hundred years, the moths, perhaps, will stop striving at night to the bright bulbs hanging by our houses. Over time, there is an academic opinion, moths will understand what threatens them with such a journey to the "Moon" or "Sun" created by man.

This theory takes place, because cockroaches have not reacted to sugar and glucose for a long time. Somewhere in the tiny section of the brain of these insects, information was written that sweetness is the first sign that there is a bait somewhere near a poisonous poison. Maybe, after a while, moths will become much smarter and acquire at least some instincts of self-preservation.