WTF did Moths do before we invented lighting?

[Tony*T3]

Watching a dozen or so Moths flickering around a street light last night, which they seem to do aimlessly for hours on end, when I thought to myself, wtf did these things do before we invented and provided artificial light sources at night? Only a few hundred years ago the night time was compeltely dark apart from moonlight and stars. So what on earth did the Moths do all night then.....?

Pointless criters....

[mickk]

Fly to the sun

[anonymous-user]

Isn't it the fact that they think its the moon or something and it confuses them?

[tegwin]

The street lights (and other light sources) distract the moths from their true goal..

In the olden times at night they follow the bright light and fly to the moon...

[Famous Graham]

Tony*T3 said:

Watching a dozen or so Moths flickering around a street light last night, which they seem to do aimlessly for hours on end, when I thought to myself, wtf did these things do before we invented and provided artificial light sources at night? Only a few hundred years ago the night time was compeltely dark apart from moonlight and stars. So what on earth did the Moths do all night then.....?

Pointless criters....

Went on their merry way because they navigate by moonlight.

They identify lights as the moon, because they're rather stupid.

[Justayellowbadge]

The clue may be in the expression "Moth to a flame"

Not, you'll notice I'm sure, "Moth to 90W Halogen energy saver"

[Spiritual_Beggar]

Terrorized humans?

http://www.mothmanlives.com/

[Neil_H]

Tony*T3 said:

So what on earth did the Moths do all night then.....?

Slept? *shrug*

[Romanymagic]

Went around asking each other "Do you see the light...?"

[Halb]

Tony*T3 said:

Watching a dozen or so Moths flickering around a street light last night, which they seem to do aimlessly for hours on end, when I thought to myself, wtf did these things do before we invented and provided artificial light sources at night? Only a few hundred years ago the night time was compeltely dark apart from moonlight and stars. So what on earth did the Moths do all night then.....?

Pointless criters....

Operated as natural selection intended, and navigated by light.

save this one.

[Civpilot]

mickk said:

Fly to the sun

Bill Hick's fan by chance?

[Stu_VTS]

Amazingly moths are not actually attracted to the light. The are trying to get into darkness, but can only see the darkness when looking past the light.

Thats why they dont bump into the light and just sort of flutter around it.

[collateral]

Civpilot said:

mickk said:

Fly to the sun

Bill Hick's fan by chance?

Beat me to it!

[Mattygooner]

Played cards and made things out of match sticks like everyone else.

[Nickyboy]

Stu_VTS said:

Amazingly moths are not actually attracted to the light. The are trying to get into darkness, but can only see the darkness when looking past the light.

Thats why they dont bump into the light and just sort of flutter around it.

Why do they go straight into my uplighter then and cook slowly on the halogen tube stinking the house out

[S13_Alan]

I thought it was to do with them getting confused because they had evolved to use light to navigate.. had a bit of a look on google, makes sense I guess.

Dawkins said:

A helpful analogy is moths flying into candle flames. It's tempting to ask what is the survival value of suicidal behaviour in moths, but that's the wrong question. Instead what we should ask is, “What's the survival value of having the kind of brain which, when there are candles about, causes moths to fly into them?” Now in the wild state, when the moth’s brain was being naturally selected for, there weren't any candles, and if you saw a bright light in the middle of the night it pretty well had to be a celestial object. It could be a firefly or something like that, but it was most likely to be the moon or a star, or, in a day-flying insect, the sun. At optical infinity, when light rays are travelling in parallel, those rays provide an excellent compass. And it's well known that insects use light rays as a compass. They maintain a fixed angle, let's say 30 degrees, to a source of light. Well, if you maintain a 30 degree angle to the moon's rays, that's fine, you go in a straight line. But if you maintain a 30 degree angle to a candle’s rays, you'll describe a neat logarithmic spiral straight into the candle and burn. So, now we have rephrased the question. The question is not, “What is the survival value of killing yourself, if you're a moth?” the question has become, “What's the survival value of maintaining a fixed angle relative to light rays?” And now we've got a sensible answer. In the case of the candle it's just a mistake.

[Dr Jekyll]

And where did Barn Owls live before there were barns? What were they called come to that?

And how did Pre-Raphaelites get to be called Pre-Raphaelites? How did anyone know there were going to be Raphaelites in the future?