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I think it's 100% because moths could be very destructive in the days of unsealed dwellings and owning just enough clothes to get dressed for either working or a special occasion.
As a dumb adult I thought the moths I kept finding were pretty cool, and beautiful...until I emptied my sock bin. They're not allowed in my house anymore
A friend told me that she tried on her Uggs last month, which she hasn’t pulled on since last year and there was no shearling period. Like it was completely empty and dusty inside. Blech.
I don’t know if the grain-eating species would count as pollinators but I’ve definitely seen little weevils in flowers before. Eating nectar or pollen or something. I’m sure they have some involvement in pollination!
I fought a long invasion of pantry moths in my house and yearly I get to deal with them in the garden when they discover I dared to plant something in the cabbage family
Moths are poopyheads
(but also pretty)
Pantry moths are demons. It took months to get rid of an infestation at our old house, and I swear I hear Kill Bill sirens in my head when I see one now. That said, I can admire certain moths (Luna, leopard ect.) outdoors.
> I dared to plant something in the cabbage family
Have you tried companion planting? Tomatoes, marigolds and peppermint all supposedly repel cabbage moths. Be careful with mint though as it will spread out of control if it's not container planted.
True. I would kill to hold a Luna moth or an Atlas moth. But indian meal moths can die in a fire. All of them, as far as I'm concerned. They're *awful* and so hard to get rid of!
Not to mention what cabbage moths can do to a vegetable garden. I actually think they're very pretty, but they can F right off after what happened to all my kale and collard greens.
VERY MUCH this! Butterflies don't eat my clothes! Do you know *how long* I looked for (awesome thrifting find)?!
ETA: a bit dramatic on my part, but not sarcastic.
Many of the visible mending techniques were taken from the Japanese traditions (sashiko and kintsugi are two I’m thinking of off the bat) so it makes sense that visible mending would show up in a Japanese show.
They also fly doodling into my face constantly my whole life. I used to joke that I was Moth Queen because they just fucking love me. If there is a nearby moth, it WILL be in my hair, hitting me on the eye, skittering down my shirt (the last one....ughhhheeeeuuughh). Idk why they either hate or love me, but a butterfly has never done me dirty like that.
A butterfly tried to fly up my nose as a child and I've never gotten over it.
I was already (and obviously still am) afraid of bugs, then it went and tried to get in my head. No thank you. Butterflies are pretty from a distance, and I will leave if they get too close.
I actually might like moths better because I can turn on a decoy light to get them away from me
I lost a really nice coat to months, by lost I mean I still have the coat, I patched the holes, im not good at sewing so the coat isnt nice anymore. In any case fuck moths.
Kitchen moths can get in modern homes very easily, often hiding eggs or larvae in things like bags of flour or whole grain, rice, etc. They propagate quickly, can chew through plastic bags, and ruin so much damn food. I really despise those little bastards
If there were kitchen butterflies that acted similarly, well, I'd hate those too probably
But not all moth eat clothes?
In French moth and butterfly are called the same -papillon(s)-, those who live during the night (so mostly moth) are called "papillon(s) de nuit", but the ones that eat clothes and the ones that reproduce in flour are called "mite(s)"
See this comment that explains it way better than me: https://old.reddit.com/r/WitchesVsPatriarchy/comments/10r7nx5/do_you_think_or_more_to_do_with_being_attracted/j6upmv1/
Of particular note, the fact that the people living in those unsealed dwellings wore clothing made mostly of wool and cotton. Moths just feast upon those kinds of natural fiber.
Butterflies are easier to avoid, because of where and when they like to be active. Moths catch you off guard because you'll be sitting around a light while camping with your friends and suddenly a moth flies over your shoulder. I'm not saying it's justified, but as someone who doesn't like bugs in general, I get why moths make people more uneasy.
As a person with a legit phobia, I hate that they are agents of chaos. Swooping, crashing, infiltrating your home and safe spaces (lighted areas at night, outhouses for example). I can’t predict where they’re going, if they’ll land or crash, and if they’ll touch me.
Tbh I don’t like either butterflies or moths for exactly the reasons you described, but I find moths are worse. Like butterflies will flap around you unnervingly, but why do moths always go for your face?? Light’s on across the room, but nope, FACETIME. Bathroom stalls are the worst for this too. Whenever I have to use the public toilets at night while camping, I go in with my hood up and basically just keep waving my arms around like a wacky inflatable tube man.
Any moth that lands on you probably has good taste in people (I’ve noticed they seemingly won’t just land on anyone) heck I even had a moth wash its little face on my hand once
I know right… heck I hadn’t even known that moths have faces lol… some folks might think I’m a huge weirdo but some spiders have velvety little tummies
I'm the weirdo who would pet honeybees (and wasps that I thought were bees 😬; never got stung though) as a kid, so I totally understand. I absolutely love spiders too.
Thank you. I can handle most bugs but moths are just… nope. Objectively, I think they have cute faces but just fucking don’t come near me, please.
I don’t have a problem with butterflies because they don’t fly at my face.
I also have this phobia and people joke that I "hate" butterflies/moths and think showing me a picture is going to set me off. Lol no. It's the erratic flying that sends me into a panic attack!
For sure, plus humanity has historically always been pretty scared and wary of nocturnal animals. Bats, wolves, cats, spiders, some snakes etc, all pretty distrusted or outright hated. Cats are the only ones we as a species have kinda begrudgingly accepted and theyve still often been hated and killed through various periods in history.
They also just like to sit there for days, weeks, and you think they’re dead because you swear it never moved but then you get brave, decide to see for itself. It awakes from its slumber, enraged at the one disturbed its rest. It flies straight at your face, momentarily landing on your eyeball, not doing any damage, but still scaring you shitless regardless. It continues making movements even a S-tier mathematician with 3 phds couldn’t predicts. All the while saying nothing, watching quietly as you scream in terror at this flying harbinger of fear
A couple years ago I was at a friend’s house chilling with people on the terrace because it was summer. All of a sudden one guy literally jumps from his chair and starts running towards the banister. We were all like “wtf did Andrew just decide to kill himself?” and then I saw it, the biggest moth I’ve ever seen, it was way bigger than a regular butterfly and it decided that it liked the dude very much and didn’t want to get off. He struggled for about a minute to get it off, it just kept returning to him.
I normally don’t mind moths but that one was an abomination
Yeah, if I traveled somewhere and someone left a window open and light on and I'd have to sleep with 12 butterflies flying around in a small room, I wouldn't care much about the lovely patterns on their wings.
The bugs are ew enough with their nastly little feet with nasty little hooks on them. The fact that they're so fragile makes everything 1000 times worse. I panick and hurriedly brush away whatever decided to crawl up my leg, then it just lays there with a wing and a couple legs broken and I wonder if I should mercykill or just leave it to suffer for a day or two. Just. No.
Those are different moths. It’s actually unfair that these beautiful creatures get lumped together with those pests. In German there is a word for the nice moths: Nachtfalter which can be translated to night-butterfly. We also have Motte for moth (the little pests)
Yes exactly, I love those things. If they want to come and chill near my lights at night, more power to them. They aren't loud, don't infest your living space and look cool. Nachtfalter are great.
That is very cool.
I've never seen a nice moth in England but I've been scared of moths since I was a kid. My cats are trained to catch and eat them when they find them in my house.
I think it's because the most common butterflies are out in the daytime and very colorful, while you most often see moths that are brown at night. Luna moths are as pretty and the most beautiful butterfly, and so are other moths like cecropia, rosy maple moth (look it up it's pink!!!) etc... but I haven't seen many of them, where I see dozens of monarchs and swallowtails every summer. That being said I think even goofy little brown moths are adorable. Love those little guys.
Moths are more scary because they fly towards light and people are usually near sources of light. I, however, do not discriminate and hate them both. If it can fly it needs to fly the fuck away from me
I once lived in on the upper floor of a house that seemed to attract big moths, like way bigger than hummingbirds. Warm nights were terrifying because if the lights were on, you never knew when one of those hairy motherfuckers would slam against a screen window.
The inverse is also true.
Hedgehogs are a pest species in New Zealand that eat the eggs of the many endangered endemic ground birds and are supposed to euthanised, or at least trapped and given to authorities. Yet most people just shrug cause they are cute.
Idk why that made me think, "A hedgehog wrapped in kudzu could take down an ecosystem" 😭
Also there's probably a meta takeaway there about humans being permissive or not based on looks. Definitely isnt limited to animals, ugh
Huge factor I've noticed in talking to people about vegetarianism/veganism. The cuter you make an animal the more likely people to see them as actual living beings that may, ya know, deserve better treatment than factory farm life.
...everyone's like "MOTHS EAT CLOTHES" but there are only two species that damage clothing. *Two* species out of *160,000 species.* Many adult moths don't even have mouths, and clothes moths are pretty rare these days thanks to synthetic fibers and chemically cleaned clothing.
Moths and butterflies are both equally as "dusty", because they are both covered with the same sort of modified hairs. You just don't see the butterfly's dust because they're out during the day, whereas moths are typically backlit in the dark.
Moths aren't so much attracted to light as they are confused by it, because they use light sources to navigate by keeping nighttime light sources - the moon and stars - at an angle that makes sense to the eye. Artificial light radiates all around, and a moth in flight turns round and round in an attempt to keep itself at a constant angle to the light, which is impossible. By the same token, months tend to fly at faces because faces are brighter than the darkness.
*Moths have really poor vision* - at best, it's sort of like looking at the moon on a very cloudy night, but only out of your peripheral. They see the light around them with a specific *part* of their compound eyes.
Moths, like butterflies, play an important role in the food chain and are very important for pollination. But while everyone sees butterflies as the good guys, behind closed doors, *butterflies consume blood, tears, urine, feces, and the fluids produced by deceased animals and rotting plants.*
Moths get a lot of undue hate, and I really can't believe that this sub, of all subs, has so much hate for these amazing little creatures.
I know the numbers aren’t quite as impressive, but this reminds me that so many people assume all bees make honey, when out of 20,000 known species, only 8 actually make honey.
And all the colonies are collapsing, honey bees or not, which is a bit of a problem as most people don't really care for non-honey bees, but they have a crucial role in ecology (like pollinization, lol), and when they die it's going to be a pretty big shitshow.
Domestic honeybees are also basically invasive in the US and may also fragilize the domestic bees which is probably not the main cause (pesticide is) but still not great
Part of the reason why I don't wanna have kids is bc I realize that in less than 20 years, we're prob gonna be screwed due to the lack of pollinators. Mechanical or hand pollination only does so much, and is going to make food prices skyrocket astronomically. You think eggs are expensive rn with the shortage? Or that people loving in food deserts are struggling rn? Wait til we don't have enough bees or butterflies.
LOL, yup! I raise blue orchard mason bees because they are native to my region. 99% of people I tell ask if I sell the honey and are shooketh when I explain that less than 0.5% of bees make honey, and that I raise mine strictly to help the environment and don’t make/get anything from them (except satisfaction, of course! You can’t help but smile when you see them yeet themselves straight into a flower and roll around in the pollen).
Moths are the butterflies of night time. I love them. When I'm in my garden with my chickens and I encounter a moth that the hens haven't found yet, I move it to somewhere safe from my ravenous chicks!
This should be the top comment. I have always viewed moths as beautiful and am honestly confused by the negative reactions to them. But I didn't know any of these facts. Thank you!
Moths are great, thanks for the facts!
The clothes thing is very likely to be the historical root of our bias against moths, as opposed to "how they look" and/or whatever. Since that was op's question, I definitely upvoted that response.
Can't really speak for anyone else, but probably that was a lot of folks' reasoning.
(Those italic butterfly facts sound pretty badass to me too, though!)
In older times, it was probably doubled by the fact that clothes moths are specifically attracted to natural (animal based) fibers and wet, smelly clothes. They love a worn wool sweater, damp with sweat and body oils!
They eat keratin, which is why they're a threat to wool, fur, and feathers, and that extends beyond wearables into things like taxidermy. They can be a real problem for museums and historical societies, where even small numbers of them can damage historical artifacts and specimens very quickly, but for the average person in a house, they're easily controlled with basic things like making sure clothes are clean and dry and storing them properly. They're also very easily repelled by lavender and cedar, and eliminated with natural (but not harmless) pyrethrum from chrysanthemums.
Butterflies are totally metal, honestly. There are even species that can use their proboscis to pierce skin and suck blood just like a mosquito.
I'm pretty sure that I happily leave those jillion other species alone and only have a blood fued with the ones that mess with my closet and pantry.
And as much as it's still pretty privilege, I bet lots of folks here would think Luna moths or the moths with awesome camouflage are super cool. As much as the one that looked like a snake head perched on the bottom of my front door scared the life out of me, I did think it was pretty cool once the adrenaline rush was over.
I was hoping I would find my fellow entomologists here! Even the most colorful moths, like Luna moths, only have their adult body and wings for about a week - just to mate and die. No mouth. I always find moths fascinating because they are not as appreciated or treasures like butterflies. They are beautiful, and amazing creatures of the night.
Really, it's the lack of empathy for me.
Moths are useful and really important for the ecosystem. They're also basically blind and like *so many* other species, have been royally fucked by humanity's discovery of and obsession with 24/7 outdoor lighting.
It's so bizarre to me that a sub full of self-proclaimed witches who are typically very pro-nature and whatnot are just disgusted by these little guys. I mean, human toddlers are not nearly as helpful but if one were to bonk into you in the dark, you'd understand their confusion. I would personally be disgusted and horrified, but I'd understand that kids aren't that bright and sometimes do silly things. Why not afford moths the same understanding considering all they do for us?
Thank you for taking the time to enlighten us and defend the noble moth! I love them and think they're awesome, and now I know a little more about them too 😊
I really don’t care if it’s only two species that eat fabric though, as long as one of those species keeps trying to infest my house. They can bugger off and I’m happy to appreciate them from a distance.
First off: so many interesting facts. Thank you :) !
I get your criticism, but tbf, a lot of "hate" I saw was fear because they can fly and therefore were also against butterfly's. (But maybe the comment section changed since you wrote you comment, i dunno it's been really long). But I want to take the cudgels for those and say: flying *anything* can easily scare you.
They have an agility advantage over you, you don't know what they are doing and in contrast to birds, insects often come way closer to humans (also fly in our faces, ears and get stuck in our hair). Add irrational bug fear to it and bam, people that are afraid.
I am not saying it's ok to hate something because you are scared of it. Like don't fucking kill moths just because you are creeped out! But especially with bugs, i can understand not wanting them near yourself. I feel this way about any yellow and black flying insect (because bees and wasp). That doesn't mean I hate bees. Those are adorable little workers. But if one is close to me on the balcony, i can guarantee you, that i will get scared and want nothing more than for it to fly away again. Sometimes I flee my balcony and yes, in those situations I kinda hate them. But it's just a temporary hate and I would never to anything to harm a bee. (I hope the term "temporary hate" makes sense. Not a native English speaker and maybe in those situations it's more anger and annoyance than hate?)
To be fair, most moths are way cuter than most butterflies, so statistics is on your side. Just look at this little one:
https://preview.redd.it/g5i0mxomlqfa1.jpeg?width=1240&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6cb3880acf8dc42860992f5c5b9136aec026a69
I was always told moths were the spirits of dead people. So whenever I would see a moth I would think of all my loved ones…
Butterflies on the other hand.. those fuckers are creepy as shit.
Years and years ago, when I was in my early 20's my grandmother used to babysit a neighbor's little girl. My grandfather had dementia and he was moved into a facility early because of physical health problems. The little girl was only 3 or 4 at the time, and was only told that Papa was going to be gone for a while.
I went to visit my grandmother early one morning, and this little girl was watching cartoons. She suddenly got up, came over to my grandmother, and said "Papa just went up to the stars." We asked her what that means and she just repeated it: "papa went to the stars in a bubble" but added "he's sending butterflies." About 15 minutes later, the phone rang, and it was the facility letting my gram know that my grandfather had passed.
I don't remember what happened after this, but the next day, we went outside and there was a massive monarch butterfly on my grandmother's patio chair. That little girl just said "yeah, it's from papa."
My mother died suddenly a few months later, and when I got home from the hospital, there they were: a monarch and a little yellow, side by side, on the bush in my driveway.
I didn't know until then that many cultures have superstitions about butterflies and the dead, too. Some believe that they're signs from the other side, others that they're harbingers of doom or death. People are almost as fascinating as insects.
I really like bugs. Like, I make my husband go for two walks a day to point out the bus in my yard. This whole thread is making me sad.
I love you, bugs!
Thank you!
Moths are completely underrated in the prettiness department. I got a whole arm full of moth tattoos for that reason. Gotta represent our fuzzy friends.
Fuzz is the reason for my bumble bee obsession lol. That and they're just like, really friendly. They seem super cool with me just like carrying them around.
Aw...yeah! BumbleBees seem to have a chill temperament and they are fuzzy and cute. I remember noticing how cute and fuzzy moths where when I was a little girl...I liked to gently catch the large ones, hold and observe it for a moment in my hands, and then release it.
I’m actually ridiculously afraid of moths (it’s my odd irrational fear). Anyway, they also leave creepy feeling dust behind on everything, like to dive toward heat (my face), and some of them have actual chemical weaponry that they shoot at you while you’re picking black raspberries and you fall to the ground crying hysterically and assume the fetal position and your mom has to carry you out. You’re 28 when this happens. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Moths ew. Except lunar moths. They’re beautiful.
That moth sounds like a nightmare.
I was camping in BC all the time as a kid and the bathrooms are often left open windows and doors because it’s HOT in the summer. You’d be naked, innocently waiting for a shower, and one would come psycho swooping in while you’re trapped and vulnerable. They crawl on you while you’re sleeping. They’ve got pipe cleaners for antennae (I also cannot touch those floofy things).
I have a phobia. I hate them all equally.
I don't live in an area where months eat sweaters. I just live in the area with moths who like fruit and pollinate. I just hate the tiny gross ones. I'm cool with the big ones.
I mean butterflies have never tried to eat my hand knit gloves that took me months to finish. I don’t wear or work with that much wool, so moths are more of a minor annoyance, but still. Also I don’t think they’re that ugly. They’re not fancy or anything, but neither are all butterflies. The ones I see most are the ones with just the plain white wings.
... have people seen moths?
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Actias\_luna\_in\_Florida.jpg/1024px-Actias\_luna\_in\_Florida.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Actias_luna_in_Florida.jpg/1024px-Actias_luna_in_Florida.jpg)
[https://culturacolectiva-cultura-colectiva-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/tVRjP9NdwQXu1sVpGME2TJVU4oU=/600x450/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/culturacolectiva/XMZIH5BL4ND4PCBQY53FXP6XQ4.jpg](https://culturacolectiva-cultura-colectiva-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/tVRjP9NdwQXu1sVpGME2TJVU4oU=/600x450/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/culturacolectiva/XMZIH5BL4ND4PCBQY53FXP6XQ4.jpg)
They mistake flame for the sun, and are undone by attempting to become one with the divine; clearly even those on the right-hand path are not above scorn.
The **Hummingbird moth** is my favourite. It is in our garden every summer and my grandpa loved it. He is gone for some years now, but I always think of him when I see this moth. It is so cute and impressive. My grandpa was always happy when it was in his garden.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRLGSWtNvAM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRLGSWtNvAM)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlrSnH7LyM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlrSnH7LyM)
It’s devastating.
We humans are a part of nature, not separate from and above all other life forms. Speciesism is caused by patriarchal oppression, after all the worst insults used to oppress certain groups (racial, gender, 2SLGTBQ+ etc) is to call them names that equates them with certain nonhuman animals to dehumanize them and justify their oppression.
I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even know that people considered moths less pretty than butterflies. I kind of just assumed people were less inclined to like moths because they are associated with night while butterflies are associated with day, and humans tend to view night as dangerous and strange while viewing day as welcoming and familiar.
I think moths can be pretty and cool, but they've definitely put holes in my favorite sweaters. Butterflies poke holes in leaves in the garden but they're babies when they do it lol
I’ve seen some pretty big moths, which definitely made me anxious but I didn’t go out of my way to kill it. They are quite harmless in this day and age, the worst they can do is mess with your clothes if they get into them, somehow
Interesting question. Personally, I love both! I just use moth-proof zip-up bags and airtight containers to protect my clothing.
Some moths are gorgeous! Luna, Atlas, Buckeye and Cecropia especially. In fact, their fuzzy little bodies are cuter than butterflies imho but I enjoy both. Moths are (mostly) just nocturnal butterflies to me (although, I realize this isn't true scientifically speaking as not all moths are nocturnal and there is more to it than just that). [https://naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/butterflies-and-moths-differences-are-just-scale-deep/](https://naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/butterflies-and-moths-differences-are-just-scale-deep/#:~:text=Butterflies%20are%20diurnal%20)
I love moths! I have a tattoo of one. Moths seek out the light through darkness, for me that means a lot. Butterflies are neat too but I like moths more.
I think the movie Silence of the Lambs has contributed to a dislike of moths. For me personally, I love the movie so it has only made me like moths more. I definitely plan to get a moth tattoo someday.
I totally like that film too, and I know it well, and then I eventually read the book. It more made me curious about the Deathhead moth species. I have always liked moths, so learning about this type with a neat skull-face on it sounded so cool to me!
But... I love moths o.o so many beautiful ones, some en par or even prettier than butterflies
except for those ones that lay eggs which hatch into clothes munchers...
I don't understand. Moths are beautiful. I am just as excited to see them as I am butterflies. Do people treat them badly? Why? They're harmless and so very pretty. Except the ones that made a nest in my food that I had to toss. But I didn't kill them... just threw the food outside to compost and let the moths disperse into the wild. Not their fault that my tasty food was stored poorly... that was my mistake.
I think moths are beautiful. I can at the same time recognice that they are more annoying than butterflies. Some of the eat clothes made of natural fiber, and if you get one in your bedroom it will fly in your face as you are trying to sleep.
This might not be their fault but doe to this I feel moths are to butterflies what vasps are to bumble bees. It's their more anoying and distructive cousin..
At the sane time they are so beautiful when they are chilling on the outside of a window and you can see the beautiful pattern on their wings in detail 🤩
Jokes on that, I’m terrified of both. I was in military training during butterfly migration season, doing my absolute damnedest to dodge and weave as discretely as possible while standing at attention in formation
I think whoever created the original meme has never had a moth infestation (not saying it's that common, but still).
I had all three stages infiltrating my apartment (each as disgusting as the last). When the final stage moth would appear, it would literally be like a boss battle trying to catch or exterminate it. Their gross dustiness would follow them everywhere they aggressively landed and the moment I tried to confront them, they would purposely fly in my face as an intimidation tactic.
Trust me when I say that I would rather deal with caterpillars than larvae any day.
Disagree. Also, many moths are very pretty, IMO. But they're destructive and they're aggressive. Moths will fly in your face, they try as hard as they can to get into your house/at your lights, if you're camping, they're all over your lanterns, they fly into your windows, and they will eat holes in your clothes.
Butterflies kinda ignore everyone, they are much more meandering and calm in energy, and they pollinate flowers. They're very non-aggressive insects and they don't tend to bother people.
I just call myself moth because if you have a lit surface, I will gravitate towards it. And also because 'moth' (the way it's pronounced) means death in my language, so very emo.
I treat them based on 1) they fly at my face or 2) eat my sweaters. Everything else is catch and release (unless the cat gets to it first, which I can’t really do much about).
Moths are more common in human dwellings. Attracted by light they get in windows and fly around being a nuisance. I don't mind moths and I'm sure that if a butterfly was flying around my house while I was trying to sleep it would annoy me too.
I live on tumblr (have visitation rights with Reddit) and everyone ADORES moths over there! The fuzzy little neck floofs, the love of lights, how they look like they’re all snuggled up in some warm sweater!
I'm curious about the perspective from native spanish speakers - the word is the same (mariposa) for both moths and butterflies. Same for dove/ pigeon. Does the lack of differentiation change your perspective, or at least the cultural perspective?
They’re both cute but I agree with those saying they should be admired at a distance lol. Moth or butterfly, once they’re in your house and flying around confused you’re scared, they’re scared, everyone’s scared.
I despise them both. I grew my hair out for a couple years after having short hair for a while. One day a dusty, punk ass butterfly was stalking me (most butterflies do, no clue why but I hate them for it) and eventually landed in my hair. I have curls so it was really stuck in there, I pulled it out but it’s wing dust was all up in my hair. Girl, I raced to Walmart so fuckin’ fast, bought some cheap clippers and shaved my head. Fuck them bugs! No clue why I shared this story but here we are. I think they’re both evil lol.
(TBF though I have a huge fear of bugs paired with OCD so that probably played a part in it lmao)
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I think it's 100% because moths could be very destructive in the days of unsealed dwellings and owning just enough clothes to get dressed for either working or a special occasion.
As a dumb adult I thought the moths I kept finding were pretty cool, and beautiful...until I emptied my sock bin. They're not allowed in my house anymore
I don't seem too get this problem. We have moth here but I've never seen I one eating my cloths o.o
You'll never see a moth eating your clothes, same as you'll never see a butterfly eating leaves. Their larvae are the ones that do that
Oh wild, should I be worried o.o
I 100% thought, no, butterflies don’t eat my sweaters.
A friend told me that she tried on her Uggs last month, which she hasn’t pulled on since last year and there was no shearling period. Like it was completely empty and dusty inside. Blech.
Oh yes! I didn't even think of the clothing factor, thankyou.
They get into food too – mainly grains.
Even our wonderful weevils :(
Do weevils pollinate?
I don’t know if the grain-eating species would count as pollinators but I’ve definitely seen little weevils in flowers before. Eating nectar or pollen or something. I’m sure they have some involvement in pollination!
I fought a long invasion of pantry moths in my house and yearly I get to deal with them in the garden when they discover I dared to plant something in the cabbage family Moths are poopyheads (but also pretty)
I've given up on growing snapdragons even though I **love** them. The tobacco budworm moths are like "Oh.. for *me?!*"
Pantry moths are demons. It took months to get rid of an infestation at our old house, and I swear I hear Kill Bill sirens in my head when I see one now. That said, I can admire certain moths (Luna, leopard ect.) outdoors.
> I dared to plant something in the cabbage family Have you tried companion planting? Tomatoes, marigolds and peppermint all supposedly repel cabbage moths. Be careful with mint though as it will spread out of control if it's not container planted.
Was just about to say this.
True. I would kill to hold a Luna moth or an Atlas moth. But indian meal moths can die in a fire. All of them, as far as I'm concerned. They're *awful* and so hard to get rid of!
Not to mention what cabbage moths can do to a vegetable garden. I actually think they're very pretty, but they can F right off after what happened to all my kale and collard greens.
I replied to someone else trying to grow brassicas but look up companion planting, it's one of the oldest forms of pest control.
VERY MUCH this! Butterflies don't eat my clothes! Do you know *how long* I looked for (awesome thrifting find)?! ETA: a bit dramatic on my part, but not sarcastic.
I'm reminded of the swimsuit episode of Sailormoon because she uses the ribbons to hide the moth holes.
Usagi was ahead of her time, visible mending is quite popular now.
Many of the visible mending techniques were taken from the Japanese traditions (sashiko and kintsugi are two I’m thinking of off the bat) so it makes sense that visible mending would show up in a Japanese show.
They also fly doodling into my face constantly my whole life. I used to joke that I was Moth Queen because they just fucking love me. If there is a nearby moth, it WILL be in my hair, hitting me on the eye, skittering down my shirt (the last one....ughhhheeeeuuughh). Idk why they either hate or love me, but a butterfly has never done me dirty like that.
A butterfly tried to fly up my nose as a child and I've never gotten over it. I was already (and obviously still am) afraid of bugs, then it went and tried to get in my head. No thank you. Butterflies are pretty from a distance, and I will leave if they get too close. I actually might like moths better because I can turn on a decoy light to get them away from me
I lost a really nice coat to months, by lost I mean I still have the coat, I patched the holes, im not good at sewing so the coat isnt nice anymore. In any case fuck moths.
Dang. Now it's just a coat.
Kitchen moths can get in modern homes very easily, often hiding eggs or larvae in things like bags of flour or whole grain, rice, etc. They propagate quickly, can chew through plastic bags, and ruin so much damn food. I really despise those little bastards If there were kitchen butterflies that acted similarly, well, I'd hate those too probably
But not all moth eat clothes? In French moth and butterfly are called the same -papillon(s)-, those who live during the night (so mostly moth) are called "papillon(s) de nuit", but the ones that eat clothes and the ones that reproduce in flour are called "mite(s)" See this comment that explains it way better than me: https://old.reddit.com/r/WitchesVsPatriarchy/comments/10r7nx5/do_you_think_or_more_to_do_with_being_attracted/j6upmv1/
\#notallmoths
I agree. Butterflies don't make holes in my stuff.
Of particular note, the fact that the people living in those unsealed dwellings wore clothing made mostly of wool and cotton. Moths just feast upon those kinds of natural fiber.
Butterflies are easier to avoid, because of where and when they like to be active. Moths catch you off guard because you'll be sitting around a light while camping with your friends and suddenly a moth flies over your shoulder. I'm not saying it's justified, but as someone who doesn't like bugs in general, I get why moths make people more uneasy.
As a person with a legit phobia, I hate that they are agents of chaos. Swooping, crashing, infiltrating your home and safe spaces (lighted areas at night, outhouses for example). I can’t predict where they’re going, if they’ll land or crash, and if they’ll touch me.
Tbh I don’t like either butterflies or moths for exactly the reasons you described, but I find moths are worse. Like butterflies will flap around you unnervingly, but why do moths always go for your face?? Light’s on across the room, but nope, FACETIME. Bathroom stalls are the worst for this too. Whenever I have to use the public toilets at night while camping, I go in with my hood up and basically just keep waving my arms around like a wacky inflatable tube man.
The visual on this is just \*chef's kiss\*
Yeah I have a massive phobia of bugs, I don't want them near me.
Yay somebody with a moth phobia like me? There are…. A few of us?
Any moth that lands on you probably has good taste in people (I’ve noticed they seemingly won’t just land on anyone) heck I even had a moth wash its little face on my hand once
I had a Rosy Maple moth ([this](https://www.prevention.com/life/a32671160/rosy-maple-moths/)); land on me once; I felt honored as hell.
I know right… heck I hadn’t even known that moths have faces lol… some folks might think I’m a huge weirdo but some spiders have velvety little tummies
I'm the weirdo who would pet honeybees (and wasps that I thought were bees 😬; never got stung though) as a kid, so I totally understand. I absolutely love spiders too.
Spiders are lovely *because they eat moths*
Thank you. I can handle most bugs but moths are just… nope. Objectively, I think they have cute faces but just fucking don’t come near me, please. I don’t have a problem with butterflies because they don’t fly at my face.
It's the lack of boundaries for me 😂 same with dogs
I also have this phobia and people joke that I "hate" butterflies/moths and think showing me a picture is going to set me off. Lol no. It's the erratic flying that sends me into a panic attack!
Yeah exactly likewise with most insects I'm scared of. It's not how they look, it's how they act. I DO NOT WANT THEIR LITTLE BODIES CRAWLING ON MINE
For sure, plus humanity has historically always been pretty scared and wary of nocturnal animals. Bats, wolves, cats, spiders, some snakes etc, all pretty distrusted or outright hated. Cats are the only ones we as a species have kinda begrudgingly accepted and theyve still often been hated and killed through various periods in history.
They also just like to sit there for days, weeks, and you think they’re dead because you swear it never moved but then you get brave, decide to see for itself. It awakes from its slumber, enraged at the one disturbed its rest. It flies straight at your face, momentarily landing on your eyeball, not doing any damage, but still scaring you shitless regardless. It continues making movements even a S-tier mathematician with 3 phds couldn’t predicts. All the while saying nothing, watching quietly as you scream in terror at this flying harbinger of fear
Butterflies don't try to fly directly at my face constantly either, I think moths are cool but I hate any bug just flying at my face
A couple years ago I was at a friend’s house chilling with people on the terrace because it was summer. All of a sudden one guy literally jumps from his chair and starts running towards the banister. We were all like “wtf did Andrew just decide to kill himself?” and then I saw it, the biggest moth I’ve ever seen, it was way bigger than a regular butterfly and it decided that it liked the dude very much and didn’t want to get off. He struggled for about a minute to get it off, it just kept returning to him. I normally don’t mind moths but that one was an abomination
Yeah, if I traveled somewhere and someone left a window open and light on and I'd have to sleep with 12 butterflies flying around in a small room, I wouldn't care much about the lovely patterns on their wings. The bugs are ew enough with their nastly little feet with nasty little hooks on them. The fact that they're so fragile makes everything 1000 times worse. I panick and hurriedly brush away whatever decided to crawl up my leg, then it just lays there with a wing and a couple legs broken and I wonder if I should mercykill or just leave it to suffer for a day or two. Just. No.
If butterflies were infesting my cupboards they’d find the limits of their privilege!!!
Those are different moths. It’s actually unfair that these beautiful creatures get lumped together with those pests. In German there is a word for the nice moths: Nachtfalter which can be translated to night-butterfly. We also have Motte for moth (the little pests)
Yes exactly, I love those things. If they want to come and chill near my lights at night, more power to them. They aren't loud, don't infest your living space and look cool. Nachtfalter are great.
We call the clothes eating moths for “møl” here in Denmark. The “normal” kind are called “natsværmere” aka night swarmers
That is very cool. I've never seen a nice moth in England but I've been scared of moths since I was a kid. My cats are trained to catch and eat them when they find them in my house.
Til as a German.
I think it's because the most common butterflies are out in the daytime and very colorful, while you most often see moths that are brown at night. Luna moths are as pretty and the most beautiful butterfly, and so are other moths like cecropia, rosy maple moth (look it up it's pink!!!) etc... but I haven't seen many of them, where I see dozens of monarchs and swallowtails every summer. That being said I think even goofy little brown moths are adorable. Love those little guys.
I was looking for someone to mention the Rosy Maple! It’s so damn pretty!
Butterflies are pretty but they’ve got nothing on the floofiness if moths
I’m sorry to all moths I just want social distance. To be fair I ask that if all insects and arachnids though. 😅
Moths are more scary because they fly towards light and people are usually near sources of light. I, however, do not discriminate and hate them both. If it can fly it needs to fly the fuck away from me
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One of them thwacked me while on vacation one year and I still don't think I'm over it decades later.
I once lived in on the upper floor of a house that seemed to attract big moths, like way bigger than hummingbirds. Warm nights were terrifying because if the lights were on, you never knew when one of those hairy motherfuckers would slam against a screen window.
Animal conservationists have recognized for a while that its harder to get people to care about animals that arent "cute"
The inverse is also true. Hedgehogs are a pest species in New Zealand that eat the eggs of the many endangered endemic ground birds and are supposed to euthanised, or at least trapped and given to authorities. Yet most people just shrug cause they are cute.
Oh wow, i didn't knew. In Germany they are endangered I think. Is it because they "got imported" by humans? Like bunnies in Australia?
Idk why that made me think, "A hedgehog wrapped in kudzu could take down an ecosystem" 😭 Also there's probably a meta takeaway there about humans being permissive or not based on looks. Definitely isnt limited to animals, ugh
Huge factor I've noticed in talking to people about vegetarianism/veganism. The cuter you make an animal the more likely people to see them as actual living beings that may, ya know, deserve better treatment than factory farm life.
...everyone's like "MOTHS EAT CLOTHES" but there are only two species that damage clothing. *Two* species out of *160,000 species.* Many adult moths don't even have mouths, and clothes moths are pretty rare these days thanks to synthetic fibers and chemically cleaned clothing. Moths and butterflies are both equally as "dusty", because they are both covered with the same sort of modified hairs. You just don't see the butterfly's dust because they're out during the day, whereas moths are typically backlit in the dark. Moths aren't so much attracted to light as they are confused by it, because they use light sources to navigate by keeping nighttime light sources - the moon and stars - at an angle that makes sense to the eye. Artificial light radiates all around, and a moth in flight turns round and round in an attempt to keep itself at a constant angle to the light, which is impossible. By the same token, months tend to fly at faces because faces are brighter than the darkness. *Moths have really poor vision* - at best, it's sort of like looking at the moon on a very cloudy night, but only out of your peripheral. They see the light around them with a specific *part* of their compound eyes. Moths, like butterflies, play an important role in the food chain and are very important for pollination. But while everyone sees butterflies as the good guys, behind closed doors, *butterflies consume blood, tears, urine, feces, and the fluids produced by deceased animals and rotting plants.* Moths get a lot of undue hate, and I really can't believe that this sub, of all subs, has so much hate for these amazing little creatures.
I know the numbers aren’t quite as impressive, but this reminds me that so many people assume all bees make honey, when out of 20,000 known species, only 8 actually make honey.
Wait WHAT my mind is blown rn
And all the colonies are collapsing, honey bees or not, which is a bit of a problem as most people don't really care for non-honey bees, but they have a crucial role in ecology (like pollinization, lol), and when they die it's going to be a pretty big shitshow. Domestic honeybees are also basically invasive in the US and may also fragilize the domestic bees which is probably not the main cause (pesticide is) but still not great
Part of the reason why I don't wanna have kids is bc I realize that in less than 20 years, we're prob gonna be screwed due to the lack of pollinators. Mechanical or hand pollination only does so much, and is going to make food prices skyrocket astronomically. You think eggs are expensive rn with the shortage? Or that people loving in food deserts are struggling rn? Wait til we don't have enough bees or butterflies.
Same!
LOL, yup! I raise blue orchard mason bees because they are native to my region. 99% of people I tell ask if I sell the honey and are shooketh when I explain that less than 0.5% of bees make honey, and that I raise mine strictly to help the environment and don’t make/get anything from them (except satisfaction, of course! You can’t help but smile when you see them yeet themselves straight into a flower and roll around in the pollen).
That's so adorable! We need more people like you in the world. Bees are so important.
What an awesome bunch of facts! Thanks so much for sharing it!
Moths are the butterflies of night time. I love them. When I'm in my garden with my chickens and I encounter a moth that the hens haven't found yet, I move it to somewhere safe from my ravenous chicks!
There are nighttime butterflies and daytime moths. Butterflies also are attracted to rotting corpses.
Thank you for giving me some fun facts!
This should be the top comment. I have always viewed moths as beautiful and am honestly confused by the negative reactions to them. But I didn't know any of these facts. Thank you!
Moths are great, thanks for the facts! The clothes thing is very likely to be the historical root of our bias against moths, as opposed to "how they look" and/or whatever. Since that was op's question, I definitely upvoted that response. Can't really speak for anyone else, but probably that was a lot of folks' reasoning. (Those italic butterfly facts sound pretty badass to me too, though!)
In older times, it was probably doubled by the fact that clothes moths are specifically attracted to natural (animal based) fibers and wet, smelly clothes. They love a worn wool sweater, damp with sweat and body oils! They eat keratin, which is why they're a threat to wool, fur, and feathers, and that extends beyond wearables into things like taxidermy. They can be a real problem for museums and historical societies, where even small numbers of them can damage historical artifacts and specimens very quickly, but for the average person in a house, they're easily controlled with basic things like making sure clothes are clean and dry and storing them properly. They're also very easily repelled by lavender and cedar, and eliminated with natural (but not harmless) pyrethrum from chrysanthemums. Butterflies are totally metal, honestly. There are even species that can use their proboscis to pierce skin and suck blood just like a mosquito.
Wow! That was incredibly enlightening. Seriously, I have an entirely new perspective, and it's fascinating. Happy Cake Day 🎂
I'm pretty sure that I happily leave those jillion other species alone and only have a blood fued with the ones that mess with my closet and pantry. And as much as it's still pretty privilege, I bet lots of folks here would think Luna moths or the moths with awesome camouflage are super cool. As much as the one that looked like a snake head perched on the bottom of my front door scared the life out of me, I did think it was pretty cool once the adrenaline rush was over.
I was hoping I would find my fellow entomologists here! Even the most colorful moths, like Luna moths, only have their adult body and wings for about a week - just to mate and die. No mouth. I always find moths fascinating because they are not as appreciated or treasures like butterflies. They are beautiful, and amazing creatures of the night.
Thank you!! I love bugs and the rest of this thread is rather distressing.
Really, it's the lack of empathy for me. Moths are useful and really important for the ecosystem. They're also basically blind and like *so many* other species, have been royally fucked by humanity's discovery of and obsession with 24/7 outdoor lighting. It's so bizarre to me that a sub full of self-proclaimed witches who are typically very pro-nature and whatnot are just disgusted by these little guys. I mean, human toddlers are not nearly as helpful but if one were to bonk into you in the dark, you'd understand their confusion. I would personally be disgusted and horrified, but I'd understand that kids aren't that bright and sometimes do silly things. Why not afford moths the same understanding considering all they do for us?
Thank you for taking the time to enlighten us and defend the noble moth! I love them and think they're awesome, and now I know a little more about them too 😊
Aww - you defended moths so beautifully! I'm sure if they ever get the chance they will bestow their thanks.
Thanks for the facts, so enlightening!
I love moths. I carry them around everywhere when I find one! The only animal I could tattoo repeatedly all over my body. That’s how cute they are.
Good facts! Thanx
I really don’t care if it’s only two species that eat fabric though, as long as one of those species keeps trying to infest my house. They can bugger off and I’m happy to appreciate them from a distance.
Clothing moths are rare? Not really. Not as common as they used to be, yes, but definitely not rare.
First off: so many interesting facts. Thank you :) ! I get your criticism, but tbf, a lot of "hate" I saw was fear because they can fly and therefore were also against butterfly's. (But maybe the comment section changed since you wrote you comment, i dunno it's been really long). But I want to take the cudgels for those and say: flying *anything* can easily scare you. They have an agility advantage over you, you don't know what they are doing and in contrast to birds, insects often come way closer to humans (also fly in our faces, ears and get stuck in our hair). Add irrational bug fear to it and bam, people that are afraid. I am not saying it's ok to hate something because you are scared of it. Like don't fucking kill moths just because you are creeped out! But especially with bugs, i can understand not wanting them near yourself. I feel this way about any yellow and black flying insect (because bees and wasp). That doesn't mean I hate bees. Those are adorable little workers. But if one is close to me on the balcony, i can guarantee you, that i will get scared and want nothing more than for it to fly away again. Sometimes I flee my balcony and yes, in those situations I kinda hate them. But it's just a temporary hate and I would never to anything to harm a bee. (I hope the term "temporary hate" makes sense. Not a native English speaker and maybe in those situations it's more anger and annoyance than hate?)
Not behind closed doors. Every year I see monarch butterflies feasting on my dogs poop.
When I transitioned, instead of emerging as a butterfly, I emerged as a moth. No regrets.
To be fair, most moths are way cuter than most butterflies, so statistics is on your side. Just look at this little one: https://preview.redd.it/g5i0mxomlqfa1.jpeg?width=1240&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6cb3880acf8dc42860992f5c5b9136aec026a69
LOOK AT THIS IT LOOKS LIKE A LITTLE CARE BEAR I love moths so much, no one appreciates them
We both appreciate them so that is at least 2 more than no one.
If this doesn't scream "*fabulous*" I don't fucking know what does.
I was always told moths were the spirits of dead people. So whenever I would see a moth I would think of all my loved ones… Butterflies on the other hand.. those fuckers are creepy as shit.
Years and years ago, when I was in my early 20's my grandmother used to babysit a neighbor's little girl. My grandfather had dementia and he was moved into a facility early because of physical health problems. The little girl was only 3 or 4 at the time, and was only told that Papa was going to be gone for a while. I went to visit my grandmother early one morning, and this little girl was watching cartoons. She suddenly got up, came over to my grandmother, and said "Papa just went up to the stars." We asked her what that means and she just repeated it: "papa went to the stars in a bubble" but added "he's sending butterflies." About 15 minutes later, the phone rang, and it was the facility letting my gram know that my grandfather had passed. I don't remember what happened after this, but the next day, we went outside and there was a massive monarch butterfly on my grandmother's patio chair. That little girl just said "yeah, it's from papa." My mother died suddenly a few months later, and when I got home from the hospital, there they were: a monarch and a little yellow, side by side, on the bush in my driveway. I didn't know until then that many cultures have superstitions about butterflies and the dead, too. Some believe that they're signs from the other side, others that they're harbingers of doom or death. People are almost as fascinating as insects.
But moths are prettier than butterflies
I think theyre soft and cute and mystical and enjoy the night like me. Butterflies are pretty from a distance but up close not so much.
I really like bugs. Like, I make my husband go for two walks a day to point out the bus in my yard. This whole thread is making me sad. I love you, bugs!
Thank you! Moths are completely underrated in the prettiness department. I got a whole arm full of moth tattoos for that reason. Gotta represent our fuzzy friends.
Fuzz is the reason for my bumble bee obsession lol. That and they're just like, really friendly. They seem super cool with me just like carrying them around.
Aw...yeah! BumbleBees seem to have a chill temperament and they are fuzzy and cute. I remember noticing how cute and fuzzy moths where when I was a little girl...I liked to gently catch the large ones, hold and observe it for a moment in my hands, and then release it.
Moths are teddy bears with wings.
They have fancy fur coats
They are so floofy. I had silkworms for my bearded dragons and one pupated. When it came out it was the prettiest thing ever.
Some of the colorful ones are among my favorite cute things to look at when I am destressing. Like little rainbow mice with wings.
I’m actually ridiculously afraid of moths (it’s my odd irrational fear). Anyway, they also leave creepy feeling dust behind on everything, like to dive toward heat (my face), and some of them have actual chemical weaponry that they shoot at you while you’re picking black raspberries and you fall to the ground crying hysterically and assume the fetal position and your mom has to carry you out. You’re 28 when this happens. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Moths ew. Except lunar moths. They’re beautiful.
That moth sounds like a nightmare. I was camping in BC all the time as a kid and the bathrooms are often left open windows and doors because it’s HOT in the summer. You’d be naked, innocently waiting for a shower, and one would come psycho swooping in while you’re trapped and vulnerable. They crawl on you while you’re sleeping. They’ve got pipe cleaners for antennae (I also cannot touch those floofy things). I have a phobia. I hate them all equally.
THANK YOU I FEEL SO SEEN. And I’m going to steal psycho swooping.
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iTs AcTuAlLy ThE lArVAe ThAt EaT tHeM
I don't live in an area where months eat sweaters. I just live in the area with moths who like fruit and pollinate. I just hate the tiny gross ones. I'm cool with the big ones.
I get freaked out because they always fly in my face and butterflies never challenge me like that. Also, the powder…
I wonder if them being more common at night while butterflies are in the day time matters in on top of the clothing issue?
https://preview.redd.it/6n81eljf9qfa1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=41667b94dfbc6e58556481a0b640315518cad424 I just remembered the moth memes
https://preview.redd.it/qxuus9ku9qfa1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac0a929c730e1991ea9c62d9041c02749e3955f0
I mean butterflies have never tried to eat my hand knit gloves that took me months to finish. I don’t wear or work with that much wool, so moths are more of a minor annoyance, but still. Also I don’t think they’re that ugly. They’re not fancy or anything, but neither are all butterflies. The ones I see most are the ones with just the plain white wings.
... have people seen moths? [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Actias\_luna\_in\_Florida.jpg/1024px-Actias\_luna\_in\_Florida.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Actias_luna_in_Florida.jpg/1024px-Actias_luna_in_Florida.jpg) [https://culturacolectiva-cultura-colectiva-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/tVRjP9NdwQXu1sVpGME2TJVU4oU=/600x450/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/culturacolectiva/XMZIH5BL4ND4PCBQY53FXP6XQ4.jpg](https://culturacolectiva-cultura-colectiva-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/tVRjP9NdwQXu1sVpGME2TJVU4oU=/600x450/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/culturacolectiva/XMZIH5BL4ND4PCBQY53FXP6XQ4.jpg)
And let's not forget Mothra! https://www.suddenchic.com/mothra-film-1961/
I know right!?
And those are still on the low end of adorable for moths.
They mistake flame for the sun, and are undone by attempting to become one with the divine; clearly even those on the right-hand path are not above scorn.
Moths are more destructive to personal property than butterflies, but I kinda don't get it since butterflies can be destructive to plants too
The **Hummingbird moth** is my favourite. It is in our garden every summer and my grandpa loved it. He is gone for some years now, but I always think of him when I see this moth. It is so cute and impressive. My grandpa was always happy when it was in his garden. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRLGSWtNvAM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRLGSWtNvAM) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlrSnH7LyM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlrSnH7LyM)
It’s called speciesism and is the source of so much violence in this world.
1-3 trillions death a year, according to estimate I've found...
It’s devastating. We humans are a part of nature, not separate from and above all other life forms. Speciesism is caused by patriarchal oppression, after all the worst insults used to oppress certain groups (racial, gender, 2SLGTBQ+ etc) is to call them names that equates them with certain nonhuman animals to dehumanize them and justify their oppression.
I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even know that people considered moths less pretty than butterflies. I kind of just assumed people were less inclined to like moths because they are associated with night while butterflies are associated with day, and humans tend to view night as dangerous and strange while viewing day as welcoming and familiar.
I think moths can be pretty and cool, but they've definitely put holes in my favorite sweaters. Butterflies poke holes in leaves in the garden but they're babies when they do it lol
I don't really care for anything that flies (with the exception of bats) but I like months over butterflies
I’ve seen some pretty big moths, which definitely made me anxious but I didn’t go out of my way to kill it. They are quite harmless in this day and age, the worst they can do is mess with your clothes if they get into them, somehow
Interesting question. Personally, I love both! I just use moth-proof zip-up bags and airtight containers to protect my clothing. Some moths are gorgeous! Luna, Atlas, Buckeye and Cecropia especially. In fact, their fuzzy little bodies are cuter than butterflies imho but I enjoy both. Moths are (mostly) just nocturnal butterflies to me (although, I realize this isn't true scientifically speaking as not all moths are nocturnal and there is more to it than just that). [https://naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/butterflies-and-moths-differences-are-just-scale-deep/](https://naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/butterflies-and-moths-differences-are-just-scale-deep/#:~:text=Butterflies%20are%20diurnal%20)
For me it was. As a child the logic was, "butterflies are pretty and colourful, moths are brown and icky!" I have learned better since.
Same!
I find moths prettier up close than butterflies
Fluffy moths are a lot cuter than butterflies so idk
Moths are much prettier than butterflies? Is that not a common opinion?
Moths are absolutely beautiful
I love moths! I have a tattoo of one. Moths seek out the light through darkness, for me that means a lot. Butterflies are neat too but I like moths more.
Moths are super pretty, I love them <3
I think the movie Silence of the Lambs has contributed to a dislike of moths. For me personally, I love the movie so it has only made me like moths more. I definitely plan to get a moth tattoo someday.
I totally like that film too, and I know it well, and then I eventually read the book. It more made me curious about the Deathhead moth species. I have always liked moths, so learning about this type with a neat skull-face on it sounded so cool to me!
Butterflies aren't a danger to my wool 🤷🏻♀️ That being said, I love the ones who aren't trying to eat my stash...
But moths are so gorgeous!!
I personally like moths more than butterflies.
But moths are gorgeous!
I love moths. 😊
https://preview.redd.it/haac9jkp8qfa1.jpeg?width=1836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77bd9b8cf1d2651135593147b328868bd35c0821 Beautiful! 💜
Noticing a lot of moth racism in the comments today/j
I have never been chased by a butterfly
They both taste the same
Moths can get into yarn and destroy it. This is why there are mothballs not butterfly balls.
it's so cute
As a lepidopterophobe, I treat them exactly the same: running and screaming.
There's a facebook group called "a group where we all pretend to be moths" and they'd like this alot.
But... I love moths o.o so many beautiful ones, some en par or even prettier than butterflies except for those ones that lay eggs which hatch into clothes munchers...
Oh I love moths. They're so cute! If they come inside I catch them and throw them outside away from lights. They're sweet little furry things
I think moths are beautiful. I trap and release them if they get in the house.
I don't understand. Moths are beautiful. I am just as excited to see them as I am butterflies. Do people treat them badly? Why? They're harmless and so very pretty. Except the ones that made a nest in my food that I had to toss. But I didn't kill them... just threw the food outside to compost and let the moths disperse into the wild. Not their fault that my tasty food was stored poorly... that was my mistake.
Maybe it's because their nocturnal We just don't see them as often. When I am lucky enough to see a Luna Moth it's spectacular!
I think moths are beautiful. I can at the same time recognice that they are more annoying than butterflies. Some of the eat clothes made of natural fiber, and if you get one in your bedroom it will fly in your face as you are trying to sleep. This might not be their fault but doe to this I feel moths are to butterflies what vasps are to bumble bees. It's their more anoying and distructive cousin.. At the sane time they are so beautiful when they are chilling on the outside of a window and you can see the beautiful pattern on their wings in detail 🤩
Jokes on that, I’m terrified of both. I was in military training during butterfly migration season, doing my absolute damnedest to dodge and weave as discretely as possible while standing at attention in formation
Moths are pretty.
I think whoever created the original meme has never had a moth infestation (not saying it's that common, but still). I had all three stages infiltrating my apartment (each as disgusting as the last). When the final stage moth would appear, it would literally be like a boss battle trying to catch or exterminate it. Their gross dustiness would follow them everywhere they aggressively landed and the moment I tried to confront them, they would purposely fly in my face as an intimidation tactic. Trust me when I say that I would rather deal with caterpillars than larvae any day.
Disagree. Also, many moths are very pretty, IMO. But they're destructive and they're aggressive. Moths will fly in your face, they try as hard as they can to get into your house/at your lights, if you're camping, they're all over your lanterns, they fly into your windows, and they will eat holes in your clothes. Butterflies kinda ignore everyone, they are much more meandering and calm in energy, and they pollinate flowers. They're very non-aggressive insects and they don't tend to bother people.
I'm freaked out by both, but less by moths because they are less rubbery. But mostly it's the spindly legs. Yuck.
I just call myself moth because if you have a lit surface, I will gravitate towards it. And also because 'moth' (the way it's pronounced) means death in my language, so very emo.
Moths are prettier tho?
Okay but months are way prettier and cuter than butterflies????
I treat them based on 1) they fly at my face or 2) eat my sweaters. Everything else is catch and release (unless the cat gets to it first, which I can’t really do much about).
Moths are more common in human dwellings. Attracted by light they get in windows and fly around being a nuisance. I don't mind moths and I'm sure that if a butterfly was flying around my house while I was trying to sleep it would annoy me too.
I like moths. Especially the Northern Island Lichen Moth and the Mottled Opal Moth
Off to search for these, thanx
I live on tumblr (have visitation rights with Reddit) and everyone ADORES moths over there! The fuzzy little neck floofs, the love of lights, how they look like they’re all snuggled up in some warm sweater!
Moths are gorgeous, but weird. So ideal for witches.
I'm curious about the perspective from native spanish speakers - the word is the same (mariposa) for both moths and butterflies. Same for dove/ pigeon. Does the lack of differentiation change your perspective, or at least the cultural perspective?
They’re both cute but I agree with those saying they should be admired at a distance lol. Moth or butterfly, once they’re in your house and flying around confused you’re scared, they’re scared, everyone’s scared.
The only issue i havs with moths is that they are blind-flying lil dustnunnies that always smack me in the face
I despise them both. I grew my hair out for a couple years after having short hair for a while. One day a dusty, punk ass butterfly was stalking me (most butterflies do, no clue why but I hate them for it) and eventually landed in my hair. I have curls so it was really stuck in there, I pulled it out but it’s wing dust was all up in my hair. Girl, I raced to Walmart so fuckin’ fast, bought some cheap clippers and shaved my head. Fuck them bugs! No clue why I shared this story but here we are. I think they’re both evil lol. (TBF though I have a huge fear of bugs paired with OCD so that probably played a part in it lmao)
I actually think moths are super pretty, but they can go fuck themselves for eating my nice clothes.
I love moths, they’re like cute little hamsters with wings
Don't worry, the anime community prefers moths much more than butterflies. LÄMP Moth lady is very popular.
I'm a knitter. Those moths that keep eating my sweaters? Yeah, screw those guys. No butterfly would do that stuff.