Summer is the favorite season for many of you. We can easily go out, and as the days get longer, we get a good chance to roam and play for longer. But as the day wears on and when it is evening, you turn on the porch light. Within a minute, some unwanted guests are seen flying around your porch light. Yes, I am talking about bugs, flies, and other insects. They keep flying around the porch light, tossing it over your head, even crash landing in your drink. Not only are they attracted to porch lights, but street lights and campfires are attractions to them as well. After all, why are insects drawn to light at night?

According to science, this is moving on due to phototoxic. A phototoxic organism is one that moves instinctively towards a bright light or away from light. The bugs that get attracted to the porch light and fly around them are positive phototoxic, which means they are attracted to light. However, other bugs, such as cockroaches, disappear when exposed to light. This is called negative phototoxic, which indicates they are not attracted to light. However, scientists believe the reason for the attraction of insects towards bright light is phototoxic, although the specific cause has yet to be discovered. But some theories or hypotheses explain why are insects attracted to light.

1. Insects use light as a navigation tool

Insects use light as a navigation tool. One theory could also be that positive phototoxic insect such as moths, flies, and bugs use the moonlight as a navigational tool. Many bugs find their way to natural light sources such as the sun and the moon by having them fixed in their sights. The moon is fixed in one place, and the insects point towards the moonlight. But when you turn on the artificial light, they get confused. They think this artificial light is another moon. To guide themselves with the porch light, they keep fluttering back and forth from the porch light, which represents the moon in their sights.

2. Trying to escape from Predator

The second theory says that bugs use light as an escape route for trying to escape from predators. In simple words, insects use light to defend themselves against predators. If a predator attacks them while they are resting, then it will move towards the moon, so predators cannot reach them. When they are exposed to artificial light, they get drawn to artificial light and congregate around the porch light. The reason behind this is that artificial lights are brighter than moonlight.

3. Looking for Food

Some scientists believe insects mistakenly acquire artificial light from flowers. Perhaps you are wondering how this could be feasible. As we know, many moths feed on the nectar of flowers, and these flowers reflect ultraviolet light. However, artificial light emits a small amount of ultraviolet light, which leads some insects to confuse flowers.

4. Reason for insects flying around light

Perhaps you think that at a certain point, a confused bug by artificial light will realize its mistake and walk away. Let me tell you, like humans, bugs also suffer from temporal night blindness. Just as you are standing in a brightly lit room and suddenly someone turns off the light. You will experience a second of confusion and be practically blind until your eyes acclimate to the darkness. The light sensors of a moth’s eyes are exactly the same as the human eye sensors. However, human eyes acclimate to the darkness quickly, but moth eyes require 30 minutes. This is why a moth keeps swooping back and forth around your light bulb or campfire. Bright lights confuse and perplex them, but at the same time, the moth doesn’t want to fly in the dark. The reason is the threat from the predator or any other danger that could kill them for half an hour.

5. Kinds of lights attract Bug

It’s not the same for all insects, just those drawn to the lights. As normal, they are naturally drawn to ultraviolet light and white light. This is why hundreds of bugs will swarm around these brilliant white fluorescent lights, but just a few will come to the campfire. Use yellow and red-bulb lights if you ask to remove these bugs at night. But, some bugs will still attract to these lights, but it will be very rare, not as much as white light.

How did butterflies get their name?

These are some reasons why are bugs and insects attracted to light. Friends, if you want to spend an evening without bugs, then use the outdoor Yellow Bug Light, or better yet, spend your night in the moonlight. Why is your thought? Tell us in the comments section.