August 1, 2010 - Perfect Perfume
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Moths don’t see well in the dark. They don’t hear or make sounds. So how do they find a mate? Male moths sniff out the female of their desire despite not having a nose. Moths smell with their feathery antennae. Made of hundreds of tiny hairs that detect scent, these sensitive organs allow a male moth to smell a female up to two miles away. A female moth emits a natural perfume called a pheromone to advertise for a mate. Males detect this odor as it wafts on humid night air and fly toward the source. Scents swirl around in air currents causing moths to zig-zag in what appears to be a random flight. As the scent gets stronger, the flight path becomes more direct until the male moth follows the perfume to the object of its affection.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.