A new study has found out how hawk moths feed on a flower in the darkness with a night breeze blowing. The researchers found that these creatures slow their brain to improve vision under low-light conditions.

Hawk moths are also known as sphinx moths. These species belong to the family, Sphingidae, under the order Lepidoptera. They are well known for extraordinarily fast flight patterns and flying stance.

The study was conducted by Simon Sponberg, an assistant professor in the physics department at Georgia Tech, along with Thomas L. Daniel, his research partner at the University of Washington.

They found this unique visual capability of hawk moths using high-speed infrared cameras and 3D-printed robotic flower that mimicked the movement of a real flower being blown by a night breeze.

The research team tested their theory by making a hawk moth feed on a robotics flower in dim light and the hawk moths' eating behavior.

They found that the moth is able to feed, using its long proboscis, in sync with the movement of the robotics flower at a certain rate of time. This proved that the moth could really sense an objects' movement by slowing down its brain processing of an image.

Slowing down visual processing in brain by these creatures helps them to focus by integrating light over a longer period. More importantly, moths can synchronize their flight to the speed of the movement of a nectar source.

The researchers said that these findings might help the next generation of small flying robots to operate efficiently under a broad range of lighting conditions.