# Do moths eat the wool off sheep?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-moths-eat-the-wool-off-sheep/405155>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 22, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-moths-eat-the-wool-off-sheep/405155 "2007-05-22T23:24:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-moths-eat-the-wool-off-sheep/405155/1 "2007-05-22T23:24:39Z")

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I know they eat wool clothing, but do they ever eat it straight off the sheep?

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-moths-eat-the-wool-off-sheep/405155/2 "2007-05-22T23:47:08Z")

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Remember, it’s moth larvae that eat wool, not adult (flying) moths. Female moths lay their eggs in a nice cozy woolen object and they hatch out into wool-munching larvae.

But I doubt that those nice cozy woolen objects include live sheep. Most female clothes moths don’t fly at all until they’ve laid their clutch of eggs, so how would they even get to a sheep?

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**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-moths-eat-the-wool-off-sheep/405155/3 "2007-05-23T02:24:35Z")

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Yes, they eat the wool off the sheep. Not when it’s on.