Monday, September 01, 2008

wee bugs

My previous post wasn't a metaphorical question. It's the time of year when bugs are sneaking or openly flying, into the shelter of our old house. The other day I trapped a spider (almost) as big as my palm under a mug, and successfully threw it outside. Who knows how long it will be before it sneaks its way back in though. I also saw some moths flying around, and would have liked to get rid of them (as moths have been desecrating our woolens lately), but they get drawn to those dang lights, totally out of my reach. I guess they'll die there anyway.

I would like to share more deeply than about the present insect invasion, but most life experiences feel too complex for words. I'm hate taking the risk of belittling them.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, dear Dora... insects, particularly flies and moths, are attracted to light because they are naturally used to using stars at night as directional beacons. Therefore, if at night, you have lights glowing on your porch, the insect gets confused and thinks it's heading its way home, because any light might as well be a star to them.

This message is brought to you buy watching a lot of science shows, particularly the BBC's awesome series: Planet Earth.

4:01 PM  
Blogger dm said...

Thank you Lea!

But, I still don't understand, stars are tiny pinpricks of light, surely the moth can tell the difference between a giant, glowing light bulb and a tiny pinprick? And it doesn't (assumably) fly _to_ the star, no? It just uses them to steer by?

5:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.earthsky.org/faq/why-are-moths-attracted-to-flame

and

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12903572

Explain it even better than I can. :D

6:35 PM  
Blogger dm said...

Thanks Lea! This makes so much sense!

7:38 PM  

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