When the early 19th-century scientist Thomas Malthus contemplated ways of reducing the population before it outstripped the food supply, he considered infanticide, murder, contraception, starving the poor – and homosexuality. The latter has been harnessed by present-day scientists to halt an explosion, not of people, but of brown-tailed moths.

Moths and their larvae have multiplied in such numbers in some parts of the country recently that they have become a menace to people. Experts have come up with the novel solution of tricking the males of the species into thinking that they are gay.

Scientists are using a powder that spreads female pheromones – the smell of sexual attraction – and confuses the male moths, thus slowing the breeding. The powder is left near breeding grounds and, when larvae hatch, they are coated in it. Other male moths are then tempted naturally to make contact with them, believing them to be female. Moths have small brains and dreadful eyesight.

Andrew Gibson of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said: “We have never had these creatures in such numbers before. The pheromones have no significant effect on the other species of moths and butterflies in the area. They are species-specific and are doing the job.”

Trouble began at Spurn Point on the Humber estuary, home to Britain’s only full-time lifeboat station, where seven crewmen and their families live. The moths had multiplied in such numbers that the men were developing rashes and breathing problems from the poisonous hairs of the larvae blown in the wind.

The caterpillars are a rare visitor to Yorkshire from southern England. Hot weather in April, now a distant memory, is believed to have caused the explosion in their numbers, leading them to set up a breeding colony at Spurn Point, a nature reserve.

Brown-tailed moths are a well-known nuisance in summer as their voracious appetite can strip an area of its greenery. If the caterpillar hairs are touched they can cause a skin irritation. Each female moth lays between 200 and 300 eggs on the leaves of trees and shrubs in late summer. Small caterpillars hatch and start to feed on the leaves. To survive the winter they spin a white tent around themselves, until in spring they scatter and feed frantically until they are between 2½cm and 5cm (12in) long.

Towards the end of summer they moult, pupate and emerge as adult moths. To confuse the issue they are not brown-tailed at all but, like some of Sir Elton John’s more restrained stage costumes, predominantly white.

Many local councils recognise the menace of the brown-tailed moth and will send their pest-control officers to deal with them. Forcing the creatures into civil partnerships, however, is a new way of dealing with their population explosion. It appears more effective than trying to starve their poor.

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