Chapter 39, Problem 1CT

Summary Introduction

To determine:

The reason behind the persistence in moths of a non-adaptive behavior of flying towards bright objects around streetlights and also banging against the brightly lit windowpanes.

Introduction:

The only bright objects that used to be present in the sky about billions of years ago were stars and moon, whose light was used as a source to navigate a straight line by the night-flying moths. This instinct of flying towards bright objects has led the moths to get exhausted by fluttering around streetlights and banging against brightly lit windowpanes.