The Untold Truth About Moths

Butterflies. We know and love them. The mystical winged friends we caught in jars and nets as children, our science teachers praising the awe of the metamorphosis process they endure as they wobble around uselessly as fuzzy green leaf-chompers and soon blossom into angel-like beings when released from their self-made cocoon. Undoubtedly, yes, this is the beauty of nature itself; the transformation of butterflies could be considered metaphorical, ethereal, mesmerizing.

But they're simply over-hyped.

Let's look at moths for a second. In comparison, one might wince a bit, maybe even cringe, at the sight. Upon first glance, they're the light-hungry, brown pests that run into our lamps and porch-lights that are often immediately forced out of your home, or worse. (I'm talking to you, moth-murderers.) But before you go swatting at these misunderstood creatures again, take a seat and understand why moths are a much larger contribution to the environment than we ever even realized.

An overlooked trait of the moth is that they do have the ability to pollinate, just as moths do. The only difference is that most moths perform this vital activity during nighttime, being nocturnal pollinators. But think about that for a second; yeah, butterflies pollinate our flowers during the daytime, like many other insects, but moths can do it at night. How can a butterfly live up to that? Butterflies had to go the basic route and do their work during the day, but moths said, "Nah, that's too easy. We're doin' this at night." Because they're cool like that.

For some reason the myth that moths eat clothing has been circulating for seemingly since the beginning of time; this simply isn't true. Stop hiding your clothes from moths. It's been observed that "a female moth flutters about and finds a spot suitable to lay eggs. When those eggs hatch, the larvae, or caterpillars, of the moths devour clothing. There are only two types of moth larvae that have the ability to digest the fibers that clothing is made from." (1). So basically, people are going around blaming moth babies for eating their t-shirts and then go on hating moths for the rest of their lives. Despicable.

So, where does the prejudice come in, you may ask? Well, it's more transparent than you might realize. Think about the first thing people notice when they look at butterflies; their vibrant, electric colors on their intricate, god-made wings. They're almost surrounded by a hue of light, like the most perfect insect in the kingdom.

And then we have moths. Most of which lack much color at all. Brown, tan, black, maybe green and blue at times. But generally, they lack eye-catching, conventionally beautiful colors that we pretentiously search for when observing the insect world. We, unbeknownst to ourselves, even in nature, the most perfect creation, always judge books by their cover. If you are conventionally beautiful according to society, you are praised. If you appear to lack features that were falsely deemed "attractive" by the masses, you not only are considered ugly, but untrustworthy, below society, below dirt. Eyes of brown can be found on the backs of moths, such as blue can be found in the fibers and patterns of butterflies.

So next time you want to grab the shoe and see who can hit the moth harder in the dead of night, think about what kind of person you truly are. Are you going to be the one to assume based on appearance, or to attempt to understand due to cognitive dissonance?

Be the good guy. Stop giving butterflies all the hype.

Source:

(1) Tumbarello, Elizabeth. “Do Moths Eat Cotton Clothes?” Our Everyday Life, 11 Mar. 2019, oureverydaylife.com/do-moths-eat-cotton-clothes-12197713.html.