Saturday, September 8, 2018

moths and camouflage

I remember a long time ago being taught about natural selection and evolution.   The story that I heard was that during the Industrial Revolution in England that a species of moth called pale, speckled moth gradually changed color to very dark.   The problem is obvious with the two moths in the picture below.
There was soot everywhere from the smoke stacks of the factories.  The soot was on the sides of building, sides of tree, and generally just everywhere.  So these light colored moths stood out and susceptible to predation.   The darker the moth was, the more it blended in with the dark soot covered background and didn't get eaten.   A few days ago there was a very dark moth on the white ceiling of the garage and it really stood out.  
I took the picture on day one and it was back the next day in a different spot on the white ceiling.   Pretty hard for a dark moth to conceal itself on a white background.  On day 3 it was back again but on the window.   Mary managed to get the moth to fly out of the garage.   Hopefully it found a darker place to rest during the day.   Anything is better than a white ceiling.   It hasn't come back to the garage.   But the moth reminded me of a biology lesson from a very, very long time ago.   Lew

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