Some moths migrate for hundreds of miles using stars to guide them
this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
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- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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Moths are the most incredible creatures. There's nothing I love more than opening my moth trap on a summer morning to see what beauties I've uncovered.
I always like to remind people that all butterflies (the newcomers) are moths, and moth variation of species is much more varied accordingly.
There are 59 species of butterflies in the UK and around 2500 species of moths, that we know of.
A moth goes into a podiatrist’s office, and the podiatrist’s office says, “What seems to be the problem, moth?”
The moth says “What’s the problem? Where do I begin, man? I go to work for Gregory Illinivich, and all day long I work. Honestly doc, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. I don’t even know if Gregory Illinivich knows. He only knows that he has power over me, and that seems to bring him happiness.
But I don’t know, I wake up in a malaise, and I walk here and there… at night I…I sometimes wake up and I turn to some old lady in my bed that’s on my arm. A lady that I once loved, doc. I don’t know where to turn to. My youngest, Alexendria, she fell in the…in the cold of last year. The cold took her down, as it did many of us. And my other boy, and this is the hardest pill to swallow, doc.
My other boy, Gregarro Ivinalititavitch… I no longer love him. As much as it pains me to say, when I look in his eyes, all I see is the same cowardice that I… that I catch when I take a glimpse of my own face in the mirror. If only I wasn’t such a coward, then perhaps…perhaps I could bring myself to reach over to that cocked and loaded gun that lays on the bedside behind me and end this hellish facade once and for all
…Doc, sometimes I feel like a spider, even though I’m a moth, just barely hanging on to my web with an everlasting fire underneath me. I’m not feeling good.
And so the doctor says, “Moth, man, you’re troubled. But you should be seeing a psychiatrist. Why on earth did you come here?”
And the moth says, “‘Cause the light was on.”
What the who came up with this?
RIP Norm
Many Birds mammals and reptiles can.
House Cats probably can't or at least they are probably pretty blurry.
House Cats are "nearsighted". Compared to humans.
Most of the animal groups I listed have accommodating lenses though. So most probably can see the stars.
Which means their eyes can focus at multiple distances.
Infinity focus for humans is around 16-20 feet. Depending on eyesight.
Which means if you can see something 20 feet away, in focus, you can see at infinity in focus. It's why we can see the stars.
That infinity point varies for many animals and it's true that some don't have it. Like house cats.
But a lot do.
I'm less familiar with how compound eyes work but essentially like pinhole cameras. No adjusting lens.
But they don't need it. Because when light is restricted to a pinhole, it's focused at infinity. It's more like far sightedness. Things closer will be blurry and farther away will be in focus.
Based on that. I would guess many insects could in fact , see stars and the moon.
Sensitivity to light would be the other factor.
I can't think of any land animals that wouldnt be able to see a bright point of light except Maybe moles. Those blind ones.
Maybe other animals that are "blind".
Heck, most humans in urban areas also can't see stars 🤷♂️
That's a bit silly. Many animals have far better vision than humans, such as birds of prey. Even many mammals have far better night vision. I'm positive even dogs and cats without eyesight problems can see stars.
Whether they fully comprehend what they're looking at is a different question, as if humans are any good at truly comprehending the scale of space, either...
A lot of animals can't see at all. Or at least not by our standards. For example, most spiders would be legally blind. They do have a lot of eyes but they function more like motion detectors.
There are some notable exceptions, like wolf- and jumping spiders, though. But they usually don't have a big focal length, so not sure if those could see stars.
I live in an urban environment. I can't see the stars either
There's at least one they can all see
I wonder what Mantis Shrimp see...
here's a nice video for you: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zPHLojHUCvk
it shows how most animals move through the world: they can only see the trees and stuff next to them; it takes humans to see the stars.
this is just an absolutely amazing image IMHO
Umm, not sure how factual this is. Many nocturnal animals use the stara for navigation.
Even if so, i keep having a dream that humans are the only species capable of developing spaceflight, because no other species has technology of the level necessary for that. So in a sense, humans might not be the only ones to be able to see the stars but we sure are the only species able to reach them.
We can't even say that. We haven't reached the stars. We also dont know whats out there. For all we know we're the last eyes birthed by a dying universe to witness its end.
I love that image