This French Town Has Been Taken Over By A Massive Cloud Of Moths - And It's Terrifying

Oct 01, 2018

A myriad of moths has mysteriously occupied a small French town, trapping residents inside their homes and ensuring they are unable to walk outside after dark.

Over the past few weeks, the locals of Oyonnax, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France, have had the misfortune of a host of new neighbors moving in - an army of thousands of moths.

A recording, taken by Gaelle Lecompte, reveals massive swarms of these insects gravitating toward the city’s lamp posts and windows.

“The moths are particularly concentrated in our village – especially at night because of these street lights.”

These box moths and their spawn (caterpillars) are exceptionally harmful to the immediate environment when traveling in droves as large as this. In order to sustain themselves, the moths devour countless plants and other organic matter, which can lay waste to nearby gardens and hedges.

According to this article, moths are attracted to artificial light because it confuses their instinctual navigation system.

Mike Sauders, a professor of entomology at Penn State University, explains:

“Many moth species use the moon as a means of orienting themselves during night flying–a function known as transverse orientation.”

“This mode of navigation counts on the moon being the greatest source of light available at night ... When light bulbs appear brighter than the moon, moths end up orienting their flight according to artificial light instead. Counting on the bulb to be their navigator, they fly right towards it.”

Another theory, developed in the 1970s by Philip Callahan, an entomologist from the US Department of Agriculture, draws a connection between artificial light and moth mating patterns. Callahan discovered that light emitted by candle flame contain similar frequencies to the light given off by female moth pheromones. This provides reasoning as to why many male moths would even take a nosedive into an open flame thinking that it was a female sending sex signals.

With the advent of these new creepy critters’ nightly crawling in Oyonnax, many theories are beginning to be revisited as to why moths are attracted to artificial light.

Check out the video and let your friends know what you think about this horde of moths.

What would you do if you were trapped in your house by a swarm of moths? Let us know in the comments!