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You're a creature that seems to have a magical ability to lure in lovers with an incredible animal magnetism. Whether they know it or not, the objects of your affection are drawn to you by strange unseen forces.
You're a Gypsy Moth!
A female Gypsy Moth has wings, but they're too small to lift the creature into the air. Instead, the moth uses its wings to fan a chemical pheromone into the night sky — a pheromone so highly concentrated that it can be picked up by the sensitive antennae of a male seven miles away. The male, which never eats, spends its adult life tasting molecules in the air for a hint of a female. When it detects one, it begins flying a zigzag course against the breeze. Each time it intercepts a molecule of the pheromone, it adjusts its course slightly until it finally reaches the female. After mating, the female releases a different chemical that neutralizes the attraction pheromone still left in the surrounding air.
Read more about the Gypsy Moth
See what other types are out there....
Want to learn more about moths that wear perfume, flies that steal other flies' dates, and salamanders that drug their mates? Click on the pictures below to discover animals’ surprising love lives.
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