London’s Natural History Museum is trialling a quirky system using female moth pheromones to confuse males into homosexual activity in its battle to stop the damaging cloth-eating insects from breeding. British agricultural technology company Exosect impregnates wax tablets with minute levels of the pheromones, which rub off on amorous male moths, who in turn go on to attract other males. ‘The powder overwhelms their senses and they aren’t able to detect regular females anymore,’ Exosect spokeswoman Georgina Donovan told AFP on Wednesday. ‘If an untreated male comes into contact with a treated male, he will start to show mating behaviours, such as wing fanning,’ she said. The company says tricking the moths into trying to mate with other males is a more effective and environmentally friendly way of tackling the menace than traditional pesticides such as those contained in mothballs. The Natural History Museum, which uses

Read More: London’s Natural History Museum deploys ‘gay’ moth to stop the damaging cloth-eating insects