Why do moths like light so fucking much!?

[Guest]

How bloody idiotic in the head can you be if you love light so much, but decide to be nocturnal?

[Spearmint Rhino]

Why do moths like light so fucking much!?

You know how new identities can sometimes be hard to work out?

Sometimes they're not.

[Guest]

Why do moths like light so fucking much!?

Gold star for you

[Just Say No To Vorderman]

Why do moths like light so fucking much!?

I recently found out why flies congregate beneath a lampshade even when the light is turned off..they think it's a hanging branch of a tree and that's where they meet their mate

not in my fekking house they don't..they meet mister fly spray :-)

[Wyatt Earp]

Why do moths like light so fucking much!?

What I read was that they fly at a fixed angle to the Moon, meaning that when it's not the Moon but a nearby light bulb, they spiral in to it.

But I also read that that was bollocks.

[Fatter Hipper]

Why do moths like light so fucking much!?

Sometimes, wikipedia's easier, if a little duller:

Moths frequently appear to circle artificial lights, although the reason for this behavior remains unknown. One hypothesis advanced to explain this behavior is that moths use a technique of celestial navigation called transverse orientation. By maintaining a constant angular relationship to a bright celestial light, such as the Moon, they can fly in a straight line. Celestial objects are so far away, that even after travelling 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. When a moth encounters a much closer artificial light and uses it for navigation, the angle changes noticeably after only a short distance, in addition to being often 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.[8]
In 1972, Henry Hsiao, now a professor of biomedical engineering, suggested that the reason for moths circling lights may have to do with a visual distortion called a Mach band.[9] He says that they fly towards the darkest part of the sky in pursuit of safety and are thus inclined to circle ambient objects in the Mach band region.
Hsaio says that the celestial navigation theory should cause moths to circle lights, not to head directly toward them, as many are seen to do. He conjectures that moths, which are nocturnal creatures, must find a place to hide from predators when daylight comes, but cannot do so in darkness. Their instinct when morning comes is to fly toward the light (presumably up) and then down again, with some probability landing on a surface which matches their camouflage.[8]

[Lucia Lanigan]

Why do moths like light so fucking much!?

Thanks for the fly factoid, Vorderman. I've often wondered about that, but never remembered to look into it.