How the Moon affects wildlife<\/h2>
Though relatively small in size, the\u00a0Moon\u00a0adds its own gravitational pull to the sun\u2019s to create bulges in the oceans as the Earth rotates. And that\u2019s what causes tides<\/a>.<\/p> Perhaps more intriguingly, the\u00a0Moon\u00a0not only affects the waters of the oceans but also some of the creatures living in them. Corals<\/a>, for instance, have been found to synchronise their spawning patterns with the lunar cycle<\/a>. Scientists working at Arcachon in France have discovered that oysters there open their shells up much more during new\u00a0moons than full\u00a0moons. And baby sea turtles<\/a> find their way across the beach to the sea by aiming for the\u00a0moonlight sparkling on the open water.<\/p> On land, meanwhile, lions<\/a> have a hard time of it around the full\u00a0moon. The extra light not only makes them more visible when stealth is their trump card, it also makes their prey nervous and more likely to hide themselves away. As a result, the days immediately after a full\u00a0moon\u00a0are when lion attacks on humans are most likely to occur, since that\u2019s when the cats are at their most famished.<\/p> By contrast, wolves<\/a> \u2013 who are famously said to howl at the\u00a0moon\u00a0\u2013 are not in fact particularly affected by its phases. However, they do howl\u00a0towards\u00a0the\u00a0Moon, albeit only because they face upwards to increase the distance their cries travel.<\/p> Human beings, however, have enjoyed a long and fascinating relationship with Earth\u2019s sole satellite. The\u00a0Moon\u00a0is one of the earliest features known to have been depicted in art and remains a popular subject for artists and musicians today. <\/p> The Ancient Greeks, Romans<\/a>, Egyptians and Chinese all made her a goddess, and she has been venerated, feared or seen as a harbinger of good or ill by numerous other civilisations. For example, a Mesopotamian tablet dating from 172 BCE instructed its readers on what to do to protect themselves against the evils unleashed by a lunar eclipse. But the\u00a0Moon\u00a0has also been a power for good. Amulets in the form of a crescent\u00a0moon\u00a0were believed by Greeks and Romans to aid fertility in women.<\/p> The English word \u2018lunacy\u2019 comes from the Latin\u00a0luna\u00a0meaning \u2018moon\u2019 and the belief in a connection between the\u00a0Moon\u00a0and our mental state similarly goes back to ancient times. Greek philosopher Aristotle declared that the\u00a0Moon\u00a0affected the mind as it did the sea, with a full\u00a0moon\u00a0bringing with it a high tide in the shape of frenzied behaviour and psychological instability. However, it should be said that recent studies have discovered no link at all between the\u00a0Moon\u00a0and mental health.<\/p> Our satellite has crept into the English language in other ways too. We talk of the lovelorn \u2018mooning about\u2019, while happier folk (particularly footballers) are \u2018over the\u00a0moon\u2019. Distant events happened \u2018many\u00a0moons ago\u2019, while rare events occur \u2018once in a blue\u00a0moon<\/a>\u2019. That last expression is a little unfortunate because blue\u00a0moons are in fact relatively frequent \u2013 taking place every two to three years. This is because the\u00a0Moon\u00a0goes through its complete cycle in just 29.5 days (so 12 cycles take 354 days), meaning that some calendar years will contain 13 full\u00a0moons. The additional full\u00a0moon\u00a0\u2013 either the second one in a calendar month or the extra one in a season (that is, between a solstice and an equinox) \u2013 is called a Blue\u00a0Moon<\/a>. Some folk like to make a wish on this\u00a0moon, writing their request on a bay leaf and lighting a white candle.\u00a0<\/p> But when it comes to the countryside, it\u2019s in the realm of sowing and planting that the\u00a0Moon\u00a0has made its biggest impact. The lunar cycle<\/a> has been used as a convenient and reliable calendar for millennia, so it\u2019s unsurprising that farmers have looked to the night sky for prompts as to when to sow or plant out crops (much as we might look to Monty Don<\/a> or Alys Fowler today). <\/p> The Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder was a strong advocate of synchronising one\u2019s agricultural and gardening labours with the phases of the\u00a0Moon. Across the Atlantic, Mayans and Native Americans were also \u2018lunar gardeners\u2019. The Celts were too. For example, they\u2019d wait until the fifth day of the new\u00a0Moon\u00a0before picking mistletoe<\/a>.<\/p> Gardening by the\u00a0Moon\u00a0is still being encouraged today. While there doesn\u2019t seem to be much evidence that the gravitational force of the\u00a0Moon\u00a0is able to draw water up to the surface of the soil, as some proponents aver, it\u2019s possible that the\u00a0Moon\u00a0might cause the foliage on certain plants to lift up (though it\u2019s not known why) and that\u00a0moonlight has an effect on seed germination. And we do know that the aptly-nicknamed Werewolf plant (Ephedra foeminea<\/em>) times its pollen release to coincide with the full\u00a0moon.<\/p> But perhaps the most surprising news is that the influence of the\u00a0Moon\u00a0upon life on Earth is on the wane. It may seem to be adhering to exactly the same course, but the\u00a0Moon\u00a0is actually moving further away from us. Scientists suggest that, when it was formed billions of years ago, the\u00a0Moon\u00a0could have been up to 19 times closer to Earth than it is today. It\u2019s currently deserting us at a rate of just under 4cm per year, so for someone celebrating their 80th birthday, the\u00a0Moon\u00a0will be orbiting 3.2m further away than when the day they were born.<\/p> Discover the many surprising ways the Moon affects the behaviour of animals and the way plants grow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31793,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/how-the-moon-affects-wildlife.jpg",2560,1668,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/how-the-moon-affects-wildlife-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/how-the-moon-affects-wildlife-300x195.jpg",300,195,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/how-the-moon-affects-wildlife-768x500.jpg",768,500,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/how-the-moon-affects-wildlife-1024x667.jpg",800,521,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/how-the-moon-affects-wildlife-1536x1001.jpg",1536,1001,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/10\/how-the-moon-affects-wildlife-2048x1334.jpg",2048,1334,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Discover the many surprising ways the Moon affects the behaviour of animals and the way plants grow.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Canada](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/10\/Moon-birds-scaled.jpg\")
How the moon affects humans<\/h2>
The Moon in language<\/h2>
![\"Full](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/10\/Full-moon-scaled.jpg\")
How the Moon affects plants and gardening<\/h2>
![\"Harvest](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/10\/Harvest-moon-scaled.jpg\")
The Moon is drifting away…<\/h2>
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