Many people like butterflies over moths. If you were to ask someone, they would likely say that butterflies are better, but is this truly the case? Or do butterflies simply have pretty privilege?
When you think of butterflies, many picture bright colours of the Queen Butterfly, the Red Spotted Purple Butterfly and the Monarch Butterfly just to name a few.
Butterflies often symbolize transformation, rebirth and the soul’s journey; they are often the favourites, whereas moths are seen differently.
Most people see moths as ugly and gross, or believe them to be dull and boring. However, those are just the nocturnal moths. In folklore, moths often are messengers from the dead or symbols of death. There are a lot of colourful moths that likely started these rumors, namely the Rosy Maple Moth, Luna Moth, Madagascan Sunset Moth and others.
These are a few moths that have beautiful colors. Madagascan Sunset Moths were even used by Victorians who made their wings into jewelry. Many people also mistake this moth for a butterfly because of its coloring and the shape of its wings.
The Oxford Blue found that in conservation efforts, humans often favor the more ‘attractive’ species. People are more willing to help out if they like the appearance and demeanor of the animal that is being saved.
Moths are disappearing; the moth population has diminished by 33% since 1968. Over 50 species of moths have gone extinct since the start of the 20 century. The Butterfly Conservatory found that many moths like the Garden Tiger and its familiar ‘woolly bear’ caterpillar are down 90% since 1968, the pink-striped Blood-vein have declined by 59%, the elegant White Ermine have decreased by 71% and the V-moth is down by 98%.
This is bad because, like bees, moths have fuzzy bodies that help pollinate plants. Most moths are also nocturnal, meaning they can spread pollen at night while the bees are asleep. Moths can also fly farther than bees, so they can get pollen to more plants.
Psychology today explains how researchers asked 509 Portuguese adults to rate the animals on eleven dimensions using a one to seven scale. They made a graph on cuteness scores compared to protection scores, dolphins scored the highest and bats scored the lowest.
This directly reflects our world; the more attractive someone looks, the more likely they are to get things. Attractive people also get treated differently. People are kinder to them and are more likely to help them. Pretty privilege just makes sure ‘pretty’ people don’t have to do much in life, whereas ‘ugly’ people do. Everyone should be treated the same no matter what, and that should go for animals as well.
