What's the difference between Moths and Butterflies?

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Everyone knows what a moth and a butterfly is, don’t they? The differences between the two are obvious, right? Wait … what do you mean it’s not a straightforward answer, like we’ve come to expect from the world of ecology? Okay then, so just what is the difference between a moth and a butterfly? Phil travels to the Lower Derwent Valley National Nature Reserve to answer the question once and for all. Hopefully…
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We're a team of Conservation Biologists. We make videos about biodiversity, ecology and conservation. Check out our website ► ecosapien.org
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Phil’s Twitter ► / greenunderwing
Arran’s Twitter ► / morano95
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Refs ►
Amateur Entomologists’ Society. 2015. Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera): www.amentsoc.or...
Butterfly Conservation. 2015. FAQ: butterfly-conse...
Chinery, M. 1993. Insects of Britain and Northern Europe (third edition). Collins Field Guide. Harper Collins Publishers.
Fox, R. 2013. You Say Butterfly, I Say Moth. Butterfly Conservation: butterfly-conse...
Harris, M. S. 2002. Lepidoptera, Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology: animaldiversity...
The Library of Congress. 2015. How can you tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth?: www.loc.gov/rr/...
Townsend, M. and Waring, P. 2007. Concise guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland. British Wildlife Publishing.

[@PIPS_505]

Moth: Cute Face Butterfly: Amazing Wings

[@unknownyuserishy8335]

Moth's wing: white Butterfly's face: why

[@haley2833]

most moths have pretty wings too

[@iateyourfather92]

Moths are honestly prettier, the wings of butterflies aren’t even pretty to me.

[@Hamza_Hesham]

@@haley2833 Then why moths that enter my house can't be pretty 😭😭

[@CrazyAlienLady051]

Butterflies don't break into your house at night in the summer and smack against your walls and lights...Also, they don't eat at your clothes and lay eggs in them..

[@deficy]

also they don't smack you in the fucking face or leave dust on your monitor or scare the shit out of you

[@ifeelit4448]

can't say I've ever had a moth eat my clothes or lay eggs in my room...in my 27 years on this planet. Has it happened to you or anyone you know ?

[@lovidasmith]

And they don't slap you in the face and scare the living daylight out of you

[@Streethawk1219]

I literally came here because a huge moth kept smacking into my ceiling light.

[@justinechaine5679]

Moths do not eat clothes I don't know where this idea started but it's not the moth

[@sabrinaleedance]

Some ppl think they are ugly butterflies , but I think there's a lot of moths that are super cool, beautiful..heck even cute 😂

[@dewbow134]

Agree!

[@vixxexo6855]

Many moth species are very adorable. But some do look very dull like the cloth eating moth is quiet hideous.

[@sienaneff3108]

I don’t like to think of moths as harrier. I like to think of them as fluffier 🥰

[@ItsAlwaysTime4Tea]

A butterfly flew into my room and I got no clue how I would set it free safely.....it was flying around like crazy! So I legit had to google what I could feed it.......fruit juice came up so I used squash and it went straight away to drink it and now its just calmly chilling on my wall xD

[@deficy]

What happened next? xD

[@ItsAlwaysTime4Tea]

@@deficy haha the butterfly stayed in my room for a couple of days (as I didn’t want to let it out in the rain) then it flew out! I then tried to raise butterflies after but I failed 😞

[@williamkoehler4235]

You discussed differences in their adult phases, but are there any significant differences in their larval phase? I think I saw a DeepLook video that mentioned moth caterpillars spin a silk cocoon, whereas butterfly caterpillars develop their chrysalis internally

[@scarletwolf_tb6307]

Ah yes, please do tell me more about these "moffs" All joking aside, I really appreciate the video :D!

[@SeriouslySeriousGrim]

Some of my favorite moths are the Imperial moths, Sphinx moths, and rosy maple moths! I don’t know the technical term for them, but I also like the little pink ones with Mohawks. 😂

[@nervous_young_inhuman7042]

rosy maple moths are one of my favorites too i also like the death heads hawk moth and hercules moth, luna moths are cool too

[@knowwankeno1de1witdelongna85]

Rosy Maple Moth and Royal Walnut Moth are my faves

[@dewbow134]

They are so cute.

[@kujiholoki5744]

Thank you so much for answering this question. But why are we so speciesist against moths and we love butterflies? I suppose it's a bit like the difference between rats and squirrels.

[@Giga-cat-c6b]

You’re right only house moths live in your home most other moths are beautiful and elegance species they are kinda like fuzzy night butterflies

[@threathy]

Moth is ugly and they like to go suicide into my hot delicious soup at night during dinner.😂

[@andrewsucksatvideos4482]

@@threathy you do realize there are over 70,000 species of moths and that the big ones look like butterflys

[@Mipetz38]

Butterflies dont enter my house and put eggs in my books as some other comment said

[@supaflycoolguy]

please hate clothes moth, and assume that all moths are like that.

[@AthenaKolva]

Thanks for raping my ears at the Please Stand By portion. Otherwise great video!

[@seraphim3923]

Is it me or Moths Are Cute When Not Flying and just chilling in your hand or Shoulder

[@FingRTwins]

They're even more cute when they can't be seen

[@FireBeast7956]

@@FingRTwins what moths are good

[@thebobabunny]

F) you there scary asf

[@ABC-li4he]

It’s you

[@xsomeoneh8245]

Your profile pic is cuter than anything 😋

[@rishabkumarmodi5959]

Perfect one.. You mentioned the frenulum ID difference

[@MapleshadeSyrup]

"I'm pretty impatient" *Twenty seconds later:* "Let's see what happens when we leave it on and wait for it to get dark"

[@padmanabharaopulakhandam8906]

Beautiful presentation Ranju ! Well done ! ! Proud of you ! ! !

[@teecarter4900]

They are very similar. Learned a lot.

[@kokomemespl6071]

Why iam i scared of moths but not butterflys

[@loliwillmakeaccountssolong3158]

Same here

[@kaluuche1585]

I asked my self the exact question

[@idkillcommitsuicide6536]

i guess because moths are more big

[@Giga-cat-c6b]

I like moths more

[@kokomemespl6071]

@@Giga-cat-c6b they crawl on u when ur sleeping

[@featheredfan]

Thanks for the information!

[@ameliawaud7318]

what type of moth is shown at 1:44?

[@EcoSapien]

Hi, it's a Buff Ermine: butterfly-conservation.org/moths/buff-ermine

[@IAmLiterallyMahito]

A buff ermine. They’re cute.

[@porthoel]

I'm just curious when I was a kid I lived in Noble Oklahoma and I saw a butterfly which looked like a monarch but way more bigger than a monarch and I always saw in the movies where little kid is holding his arm and saying butterfly come here and it lands on his arm so I did the same thing and this butterfly was higher than the house I was standing next to up in the air and it literally floated down landed on my right arm did a complete circle and when it took off it seemed to have ripped my skin and blood trickled down and of course when I told my mom she didn't believe me but what kind of moth are possibly butterfly could have caused that that's what I'm wondering I've always wanted to know or maybe that was just some special freak butterfly or moth cuz it kept its wings up like a butterfly and it was pretty skinny like a butterfly but when it flew up it literally ripped my skin open I don't know if anybody else have had that experience but I'll never forget it cuz it was so weird when I was probably about 7 to 9I believe

[@dewbow134]

Butterflies and moths and many other insects have little claws. I've had skin peeled when handling grasshoppers, usually it's the bigger ones

[@metalman4393]

Luna moth wing + Chaurus eggs or vampire dust gives Invisibility potion.

[@g00fy_s3lfk1ll3r]

Where do I find vampire dust?

[@orchidfancy7809]

Skyrim

[@loo5n]

Did really tell me anything besides the obvious visual differences. I guess which is the point? But still, what’s the “why” as to why they look different beyond colors.

[@rivalifritdarc2481]

Moths is just night mode version of butterflies

[@emiliosantacruz3751]

My lord, I grew up in Las Vegas and we had sphinx moths everywhere. They sound like hummingbirds. Plus the black crickets could fly, that was horrifying at midnight

[@watchwomanwarrior7776]

You missed one very important detail! What does a butterfly eat verses what a moths eats?

[@xela953]

many moths dont eat at all, but i think both eat nectar and stuff

[@watchwomanwarrior7776]

I would think moths would have to eat something or they wouldnt be able to live. @@xela953

[@carinakaarli4784]

In Sweden we call moths night-butterfly, nattfjätil

[@sciencebase]

Wonderful stuff. Really interesting and nice to know there is one exception to the frenulum rule Incidentally, dissect is not pronounced like bisect, it's "diss-ect", teacher used to beat that into pupils at my mate's school!

[@Kigemie]

It’d make sense that there are more moths than butterflies, most butterflies are colorful and bright, being easily seen by predators.

[@Gam1ngM3nace]

We know the difference between butterflies and moths Butterflies can be found on day Moths can be found on night

[@EcoSapien]

Unfortunately not that simple. There are many day flying moth species and some butterflies fly at night too!

[@Gam1ngM3nace]

@@EcoSapien i didnt knew

[@unknownyuserishy8335]

Moth's wing: boring Butterfly's wing: beautiful Moth's face: cute Butterfly's face: WHAT THE?

[@maxw5429]

Look up Luna moth, Elephant Hawk moth

[@dewbow134]

Madagascan sunset moths and zodiac moths are very colorful. There are many colorful moths

[@escape2064]

I LOVE moths!

[@Im.equal.tothe.cruciatus_curse]

I remember i saw 2 moths in my life time between the ages 3 and 4 and for some reason i thought they were butterflies

[@adityam.4694]

I like the fluffy look of moths more

[@dewbow134]

Agree

[@peoplearegray3893]

Why did you say they're the same thing and then name a bunch of differences between them? I'm confused

[@rowelescano3009]

Moths and Butterflies are same beauty and there just both gorgeous.. and I love them both

[@dewbow134]

I love how fuzzy those Saturniid moths are. So cute.

[@BurntSpaggetti]

Oooh jaffa cakes🤤🤤🤤🤤😂😂 my fav snack ever😂

[@Cptn8993]

is this the idubbbz of science

[@bawhatever5260]

Life span of a moth?

[@TheSunsettingtokillyoul0l]

Everybody keeps forgetting about the skippers :(

[@leybrabear]

Somebody needs to tell the narrator that 'he' is 'not' the star of the show, to take a back seat....

[@venugopal2227]

very nice program...quite enlightening...

[@pepperonipizza13]

Search up silk moths,You'll change ur mind after.

[@breadcheta]

Moths are like flying puppies

[@loliwillmakeaccountssolong3158]

No, big fat and disgusting brown butterfly

[@breadcheta]

@@loliwillmakeaccountssolong3158 maybe to cowards

[@kaluuche1585]

@@breadcheta yh

[@kaluuche1585]

@@loliwillmakeaccountssolong3158 what do u even know .FOOL

[@loliwillmakeaccountssolong3158]

Kalu Uche in sweden, it’s ugly, and shut up dumbfuck

[@coquenomisticov5023]

Great vídeo

[@the-guy-who-asked]

i love butterflies and i'm really scared of moths lol, something about the way they fly, their big body and how their wings are so big makes me very uncomfortable. Thing Butterflies Don't Do

[@deadchannelsnailkiller7088]

Butterflies suck moths are cooler

[@iateyourfather92]

Maybe you can search up rosy maple moth or poodle moth, one of the most adorable moth as people think.

[@dewbow134]

Madagascan sunset moths, Zodiac moths, green banded urania, false tiger moth... many moths that people think are butterflues

[@zanealistairlopez7428]

I saw a moth outside my parent's drawer

[@catchthesehandsmma5419]

I was looking for a more scientific answer tbh

[@potatotiger9447]

moths are so cute!

[@anirbandas5664]

How identify the butterflies species

[@photonegativemickey2362]

Also butterflies are camouflage

[@daniellelane306]

That Part 🤲🏿👈🏿💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥

[@davidbrenthale9422]

Don't leave that guy alone with the moths

[@Welpingtongtz]

Do they taste good???

[@g00fy_s3lfk1ll3r]

Wtf dude

[@Welpingtongtz]

@@g00fy_s3lfk1ll3r what???

[@xela953]

please do not the moth!! 🗣🗣‼‼

[@malms4026]

1:29 Mmmmhhh music to the ears

[@babeena_gt_3645]

But there are moths out during the day to not just at night

[@bawhatever5260]

Good answer

[@devonfuginowskinstien7500]

I’m not patient so let’s hurry and wait for it to get dark

[@pepperonipizza13]

Butterflies without wings are basically mosquitoes..

[@famfamily6721]

Moths are just goth butterflies

[@g00fy_s3lfk1ll3r]

Lmao

[@BloodAngel500]

i wouldn't have a problem with them if they didn't go skitso in my face at night. for that matter i dont like really annoying flys either

[@patatoealinaxdwheeze9948]

Why does he sounds like matt from Eddsworld!?!?!?!

[@Cheesecake900]

Moth best

[@declancampbell1277]

MOFFS

[@animeOfDarkness405]

I play Sky children of light game because it brought me here😂

[@icedtoast8119]

Easy answer: moths are absolutely adorable while butterflies are just okay

[@deficy]

well butterflies don't smack you in the fucking face with full speed, neither they scare the shit out of you

[@konpeko7134]

Other way around

[@g00fy_s3lfk1ll3r]

@@konpeko7134 ye

[@kittenkenoobi6294]

at least butterflies stay the fuck away from my walls and furniture and basically my house moths are fucking annoying little pests to me eat my food eat my clothes leave stinking shit when they die smack me in the face bury themselves in my ear when I sleep at night keep spawning even when I literally killed at of them. Never seen a fluffy moth but smooth moths are a living nightmare

[@iateyourfather92]

@@konpeko7134 It’s not the other way around. Search it up Rosy maple moth Sunset moth Atlas moth Poodle moth White lion sphinx moth Luna Moth Polyphemus moth

[@trueguy8620]

Moss that stay up for 24 hours

[@rowangordon516]

Moths are just homeless butterflies.

[@kaluuche1585]

Yh

[@g00fy_s3lfk1ll3r]

Ya lol

[@encanto2129]

Moths are butterflies

[@loliwillmakeaccountssolong3158]

I were cleaning my room floor and then a dead moth was on the floor and I picked it up with my hand and then checked it and realized that it were a moth. Got really disgusted!!!

[@SeriouslySeriousGrim]

I don’t see why, they’re just what I call „moonlight butterflies“. It makes me sad when I see one that has passed.

[@loliwillmakeaccountssolong3158]

ThatQuietKid it was rottwn and were like leaves and scared me alit

[@iateyourfather92]

Don’t get disgusted.. They’re butterflies, but just night version. It’s stupid.

[@averagecomicsenjoyer6545]

Butterflies are cute but moths are scary to me

[@dewbow134]

Moths can be cute too. Rosy maple moths, Domestic silk moths, imperial moths, IO moths, oakworm moths, luna moths... They are fuzzy and have adorable faces. And then there are also striking species that fly during the day that people think are butterflies, such as Zodiac moth, Madagascan sunset moth, False tiger moth, green banded urania

[@jxvi166]

xD

[@Insect_Expert1489]

Moths and butterflies are cute

[@kittenkenoobi6294]

Personally butterflies are 1000000000000000000000000000000x times better than moths bc they always hang around in your garden NOT in your house, moths in your house are just plain annoying. I could list a lot more reasons but yeah I just hate moths

[@iateyourfather92]

Don’t hate them they’re butterflies I can make you feel better with some facts Butterflies eat you, and taste you with your feet which is the only main reason they come for you Moths have only one species that eat clothes Search these up Rosy maple moth Buff ermine moth Poodle moth Sunset moth Coffee bee hawkmoth White lion sphinx moth

[@dewbow134]

There are over 160,000 types of moths and not all of them are house pests! There are day flying colorful moths that hang in the garden too and rarely get in houses. Madagascan sunset moths, Zodiac moths, luna moths, false tiger moth, four o clock moth, African moon moth, comet moth, argus pink silkmoth, and many more. Plus, have you seen butterfly faces close up, say a Gulf fritillary face? Moths are fuzzer and have cuter faces. Then there are also sphinx moths that are awesome plant pollinators and can be very interesting looking. Snowberry clearwing, pellucid hawk moth, teresa Sphinx. Your everyday moths might be small house pests and not be colorful but that does not mean that the same is true for all the moths.

[@captainyasopp154]

What is the difference me and the homie are arguing about it lol I think they are different

[@Sujamma_Enjoyer]

MOTH GANG WHERE YOU AT?

[@sumtingwog1273]

Norm McDonald sent me here lol

[@raulalejandro2227]

ola meus caros

[@raulalejandro2227]

bom dia

[@photonegativemickey2362]

Moths are the size

[@photonegativemickey2362]

Moths because they grow big

[@russianpooch4711]

i don’t think there is a difference

[@thechariotcard]

I really detest stupid, insipid “humor”. If you don’t have it, stay away from it!

[@vijayraner3176]

Losser boy

[@tedzone5544]

The difference is as easy as cats and dogs. All moths are boys all butterflies are girls

[@arandomperson8740]

Is this a joke or are you actually serious

[@tedzone5544]

I'm not going to tell ya

[@arandomperson8740]

@@tedzone5544 that was quick im assuming this was a joke i can delete my reply if you want

[@tedzone5544]

@@arandomperson8740 All up to you. It had to do with an artical I once read. That's all

[@arandomperson8740]

@@tedzone5544 ok

[@AaliyahRamosAcosta]

lol what a non watched vid XD