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by 3grdlurker 1710 days ago
The video left me with a feeling of reverent astonishment about how beautiful our planet really is. Such a shame that we’re destroying it.
2 comments

I doubt moths will be gone after we’ve “destroyed” the planet. They survived before us and will survive after us.

We are destroying the habitat for many large animals though.

We are destroying the habitat of a lot of moths too, though. Edit: but, indeed, quite probably not of the entire group.

Many are specialists. In fact, moths are just butterflies, and what we call butterflies are specialists in being able to navigate by daylight.

Some moths need very special plants for their time as catterpillar, others need very special flowers to drink from. Again others need a goldilock humidity or temperature or both.

I'm just an amateur though. But as beekeeper, I do have a lot of interest for other pollinating and nectar eating insects.

The number of moths in the UK has declined by 28% since 1968. There are various causes, including use of pesticides and other changes in agricultural practices, destruction of habitat, and anthropogenic climate change. See https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/why-moths-matter/mo...

> moths are just butterflies

It's more accurate to say that butterflies are a kind of day-flying moth, those belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea of the order Lepidoptera.

Taxonomically moths aren’t butterflies. Butterflies are in a different suborder, Rhopalocera, and moths are in the suborder Heterocera. They are all a part of order Lepidoptera. Additionally, there are moths that aren’t nocturnal, like some species in the family Uraniidae.
The last sentence reads like “Such a shame we’re destroying it. Oh well. So what did you have for breakfast?”
Why are there people who expect that HN comments are by themselves supposed to fix the world
Totally, and this sentiment on HN scares me.
It's tough to say anything "political" on HN. Damned if you, damned if you don't.

If you are clearly seriously concerned, you are likely to get downvoted and dismissed as histrionic.

I don't know what the solution is. But maybe best to give it a charitable reading and assume that it constitutes sticking their neck out to mention concern at all.