The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, is using “sexual confusion” to prevent wear and tear on their costume collection:

“The traps installed for the Royal Opera House make male clothes moths appear to other males as females, by sticking female pheromones to their bodies.

“In a plot that could have come from an opera, males attempt to mate with the false females, but do not succeed . . . . moths were costing the Royal Opera House tens of thousands of pounds a year.

“The worst affected are ballet dancers’ costumes, which get engrained with sweat, clothes moths’ favourite taste.

“The Royal Opera House has around 2,000 costumes at Covent Garden at any one time, some of which are more than a century old . . . . Its archive includes the red dress Maria Callas wore in Tosca.”

Here’s more about this oddly familiar-sounding moth-on-moth action. Speaking of which, don’t forget to check out La Cieca’s all new, all-femme radio show!