Like us, Butterflies and Moths have 5 senses

(and, who knows, others we have not yet found out about).

Sight

Hearing

Taste

Smell

and Touch

Which parts of our bodies are concerned with our 5 senses? And how do Butterflies and Moths compare?

Sight

It is thought that insects' view of the world around them is a bit like the view you would have if you looked through a bunch of drinking straws. Click here to find out more about butterfly and moth eyes.

Here is a close-up view of the eye of a Hummingbird Hawk-moth showing the pattern of separate sections of the compound eye.

Hearing

Its very important, if you are a small vulnerable insect, to be able to detect if there is a predator coming! So what about bats? Bats eat moths!

Bats hunt moths by echo-location using highpitched (ultra-sonic) sound waves sent out in pulses, so it is in a moth's interests to find ways of avoiding the bats ‘radar’.

Some moths can hear the ultrasonic ‘radar’ of the bats and defend themselves by jamming the system. Tiger Moths are able to do this by sending out pulses using tiny drums on their thoraxes. Moths can pick up sounds either with sensitive ear drums on their thoraxes (like having your ears on your chest!) or with tiny hairs that can detect sound waves.

Click here to find out more about moths and bat predation.

Some moths, night-flying species in particular (including most Noctuid species of which there are approximately 400 in Britain, including familiar moths like the Darts, Yellow-underwings and Clays), possess hearing organs which work a bit like our ears.

Peacock butterflies can make hissing sounds by squeezing air out of their breathing holes, to defend themselves against predators.

The adult Death's-head Hawk-moth makes squeaking noises by blowing out air through its short proboscis past a structure that vibrates like a saxophone reed. This gives the would-be predator a shock!

Large Blue caterpillars spend much of their lives in red ants’ nests and communicate with the red ants by emitting sounds that the ants respond to.

Read: The very strange tale of the Large Blue Butterfly

Taste

Butterflies and Moths can taste through their feet. ( Click here to find out more)

and through their antennae (click here)

or through the palps, little feelers on their mouthparts.

Look at the sensory palps of an Owl Butterfly (a tropical species), on its head close to its proboscis which is pointing straight down like a needle.

Smell

Butterflies and Moths can recognize chemical smells with their antennae – sometimes very very sensitively.

Very often male Brimstone butterflies will emerge from hibernation earlier than the females and sniff out the females while they are still hidden in their hibernation sites (on an ivy-clad tree trunk for example) - click here

His antennae are so sensitive that a male Emperor Moth can detect a female from several km away.

Touch

The bodies of butterflies and moths are covered with tiny hairs which can detect movement and touch.