Landscape (UK)

TRAPPED BY LIGHT

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Like other night-flying moths, elephant hawkmoths are attracted to light, which enables scientists and naturalist­s to catch them using moth traps. These work on the principle that nocturnal moths use the moon to navigate, keeping it at a particular angle to their body as they fly. Because the artificial light of the moth trap is so much closer than the very distant moon, the moths fly in ever-decreasing circles until they reach the light. They then assume it is daybreak, and so seek shelter inside the trap, usually hiding beneath cardboard egg boxes put there for that very purpose.

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