THE STUDY ISN'T ABOUT ATLAS MOTHS BUT I COULDN'T RESIST THE PIC. (PHOTO: TRIJNE)
In the good ole natural selection race, he who adapts best survives. Take for example a butterfly's fancy wing spots that are meant to look like scary eyes. It's a clever tactic. Moths have evolved a similarly cunning method of evading capture and certain death, which was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.
Some moths make noises and some don't, but doctoral student Jesse Barber from Wake Forest University has noticed that there is more of a motive than mere musicality to the moth's sounds. Bats eat moths, and prefer the taste of some to others. This study used three types of moth, two nice-tasting, and one nasty-tasting, and offered them to bats. The unappetizing moths made noises as they flew, and the bats soon learned that noise=yuk. So when offered a selection of more delicious moths the bats avoided the noisy ones and scoffed the silent ones. The tasty, noisy moths live to flutter another day, and descent with modification marches on. Go Darwin.
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