Habitat Lounge

A STORY OF SELECTION

Before the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of peppered moths had light colouration, which effectively camouflaged them against light-coloured trees and lichens. When industrial pollution killed off many of the lichens and blackened the trees with soot, most of the light-coloured moths fell to predators, while the dark-coloured ones flourished in their changed environment.

Cleaner air in recent times has seen the light-coloured moths return in numbers, perhaps not as creatures of habit, but creatures of habitat.