[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/sci/ - Science & Math

View post   
File: 36 KB, 800x534, imaeg.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9061992 No.9061992 [Reply] [Original]

Why are bugs attracted to lights at night?

While we're here, why hasn't this behavior been weeded out through evolution (bugs attracted to lights exhaust themselves needlessly, unlike other bugs)?

Also, why aren't there any natural predators of bugs camped around light sources every night? Easiest lunch ever.

>> No.9062000

>>9061992
>be bug that indicates fertility by bio-luminescence.
I just wanna fuck
>be bug that eats bio-luminescent bugs
I just wanna eat fucking bugs.
>be bug that just fucking loves shiney thingy
I'm just retarded.

It's probably one of those.

>> No.9062003
File: 54 KB, 500x432, house lizard.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9062003

>>9061992
house lizards are always around light sources to eat the bugs.

>> No.9062013

>>9062003
>house lizards

>> No.9062066

>>9061992
Because there AREN'T light sources every night in nature. The only (common, significant,) light sources in nature are the sun and fires. They do die by fire, but fire is rare.

No predators have evolved to specifically hunt bugs that swarm around lights, because humans only started using candles and electricity in the last couple hundred years. That's also why bugs go straight for them. They have no evolutionary defense for being dumb yet.

>> No.9062111

>>9062013
Yes, house lizards. Lizard the size of a house that you can also live inside of.

>> No.9062112

>>9062066
>No predators have evolved to specifically hunt bugs that swarm around lights
In Malaysia, you would have seen plenty of lizards hunting for bugs that swarm around lights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpV_8SKScjc

>> No.9062120
File: 44 KB, 846x480, house lizards.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9062120

>>9062111
>house lizards
lizards that live in the house

>> No.9062161
File: 655 KB, 300x168, 1432599118332.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9062161

>>9062066
>Because there AREN'T light sources every night in nature
There are in cities. Or is the problem that it's not global enough to influence an entire species?

>No predators have evolved to specifically hunt bugs that swarm around lights
Why would they need to evolve for that?
See bugs around lights -> go there to eat them.

>> No.9062165

>>9061992

because to navigate they need a reference point

normally they would use the moon/stars

lights confuse them because they aren't static like the moon/stars

>> No.9062193
File: 48 KB, 443x600, 1331834823682.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9062193

>>9062165
How is the moon static? It changes its position in the sky slowly, but constantly.

>> No.9062355

>>9062066
>humans only started using candles in the last couple hundred years

>> No.9062876

>>9061992
>Why are bugs attracted to lights at night?

Mostly they are not. Many night insects navigate by holding the moon at a consistent angle to their flight path.

If you do this withthe moon, you can fly in a straight line even in the night.

If you do it with a light bulb, if it is behind you in your flight you fly away until you can't see it -- but if it is ahead of you, you spiral towards it until you hit it.

>> No.9062882
File: 33 KB, 248x220, moth flame.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9062882

>>9062193
It does not change it's bearing as you fly toward it for 5 minutes. A nearby light source does.

>Moth cannot fly poast moon, can fly past candle.

>> No.9062898

>>9062161
>go there and eat them

Kek

>> No.9062900

>>9061992
>expecting evolutionary changes to 100 million year old biological machinery because of technology that developed five minutes ago.

give it time. These things take longer than human lifespans.

>> No.9062902
File: 15 KB, 338x295, bat-silhouettes-flying-around-a-street-lamp-and-tree_21182317.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9062902

>>9062120
Bats tend to enjoy flying around streetlights -- maybe it's just that we can see tem better there, but likely they're learning that's where bugs congregate.

>> No.9062904

>>9062900
>These things take longer than human lifespans.

Unless you like punctuated equilibrium, in which case we may see some pretty fast speciation to adapt to the environmental changes we've made.

>> No.9062918

>>9061992
>bugs attracted to lights exhaust themselves needlessly, unlike other bugs
But they also wind up in aggregations where finding a mate is easy, and get any predator-avoidance advantages that come with herding behavior.

>> No.9063058

>>9062000
>>9062066
Stupid faggots that are talking out their ass, may be partially correct

>>9062165
>>9062876
>>9062882
Legit answers here

>> No.9063158

>>9062000
Kek