Electric Pollination: How Butterflies and Moths Attract Pollen

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Butterfly Buzz

If you’ve ever shocked yourself on a doorknob, congrats, you’re a butterfly! Or at least you’ve experienced the static electricity they use to pollinate flowers.

• Butterfly and moth wings produce static electricity

• The static attracts pollen without landing

• Creating mini-pollination clouds to be blown around

Static electricity usage varied across the 11 species studied and correlated with ecological factors such as habitat and day vs. night fliers. Learning more about our fluttery friends could improve farming methods and agricultural yields. Maybe we should grow plants on rugs?

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