Editing Moat (section)

==Modern usage==
=== Architectural usage ===
[[Image:Farley dry moat jeh.JPG|thumb|upright|Dry moat at the James Farley Post Office in New York City.]]
Dry moats were a key element used in French [[Classicism]] and [[Beaux-Arts architecture]] dwellings, both as decorative designs and to provide discreet access for service. Excellent examples of these can be found in Newport, Rhode Island at [[Miramar (mansion)]] and [[The Elms (Newport, Rhode Island)|The Elms]], as well as at [[Carolands]], outside of San Francisco, California, and at [[Union Station (Toronto)|Union Station]] in [[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada. Additionally, a dry moat can allow light and fresh air to reach basement workspaces, as for example at the [[James Farley Post Office#Construction and design|James Farley Post Office]] in [[New York City]].{{cn|date=January 2025}}

=== Anti-terrorist moats ===
Whilst moats are no longer a significant tool of warfare, modern architectural building design continues to use them as a defence against certain modern threats, such as terrorist attacks from [[car bomb]]s and [[improvised fighting vehicle]]s. For example, the new location of the [[Embassy of the United States, London|Embassy of the United States in London]], opened in 2018, includes a moat among its security features - the first moat built in England for more than a century.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/us-embassy-america-shows-off-its-thames-fortress-6n2kjmcvq|title=US embassy: America shows off its Thames fortress|last=Morrison|first=Jonathan |date=2017-12-14|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=2018-04-26|language=en|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> Modern moats may also be used for aesthetic or ergonomic purposes.

The [[Catawba Nuclear Station]] has a concrete moat around the sides of the plant [[Neck ditch|not bordering]] a lake. The moat is a part of precautions added to such sites after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]].<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Nuclear Threat Initiative|url=http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2004/10/13/78e7ff40-6c57-4696-afb7-982106ec6d06.html|title=Nuclear Power Plants to Continue MOX Program|date=October 13, 2004|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901040311/http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2004/10/13/78e7ff40-6c57-4696-afb7-982106ec6d06.html|archive-date=September 1, 2009}}</ref>

=== Safety moats ===
Moats, rather than fences, separate animals from spectators in many modern [[zoo]] installations. Moats were first used in this way by [[Carl Hagenbeck]] at his [[Tierpark Hagenbeck|Tierpark]] in [[Hamburg]], Germany.<ref>{{Cite news | publisher = [[National Audubon Society]] | work = Audubon Magazine | title = The New Zoo | url = http://audubonmagazine.org/features0111/newzoo.html | author = Rene S. Ebersole | date = November 2001 | access-date = 2007-12-18 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070906144905/http://www.audubonmagazine.org/features0111/newzoo.html | archive-date = 2007-09-06 }}</ref> The structure, with a vertical outer retaining wall rising direct from the moat, is an extended usage of the [[ha-ha]] of English landscape gardening.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

=== Border defence moats ===
In 2004, plans were suggested for a two-mile moat across the southern border of the [[Gaza Strip]] to prevent tunnelling from Egyptian territory to the border town of [[Rafah]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/israel/Story/0,2763,1241836,00.html|title=Two-mile Gaza moat to foil tunnels to Egypt|date=June 18, 2004 | location=London | first=Conal | last=Urquhart | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref>

In 2008, city officials in [[Yuma, Arizona]] planned to dig out a two-mile stretch of a {{convert|180|ha|acre|abbr=off|adj=on}} wetland known as Hunters Hole to control immigrants coming from Mexico.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/14/usa.mexico|title=US city plans moat to keep out migrants|date=March 14, 2008|location=London|first=Dan|last=Glaister|access-date=May 12, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902041602/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/14/usa.mexico|archive-date=September 2, 2013}}</ref>

=== Pest control moats ===
Researchers of [[jumping spider]]s, which have excellent vision and adaptable tactics,<ref name="HarlandJackson2000Cats">{{Cite journal
 |author1       = Harland, D.P.
 |author2       = Jackson, R.R.
 |name-list-style = amp
 |year          = 2000
 |title         = "Eight-legged cats" and how they see: a review of recent research on jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae)
 |journal       = Cimbebasia
 |volume        = 16
 |pages         = 231–240
 |url           = http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/Papers/Downloads/Harland_Cimb2000.pdf
 |access-date    = 5 May 2011
 |url-status    = dead
 |archive-url    = https://web.archive.org/web/20060928164131/http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/Papers/Downloads/Harland_Cimb2000.pdf
 |archive-date   = 28 September 2006
}}</ref> built water-filled miniature moats, too wide for the spiders to jump across. Some specimens were rewarded for jumping then swimming and others for swimming only. ''[[Portia fimbriata]]'' from [[Queensland]] generally succeeded, for whichever method they were rewarded.<ref name=JacksonEtc2001ConfinProb>{{cite journal | last=Jackson | first=Robert R.
   |author2=Chris M. Carter |author3=Michael S. Tarsitano
    | title=Trial-and-error solving of a confinement problem by a jumping spider, ''Portia fimbriata''
   | journal=Behaviour | year=2001 | volume=138 | issue=10 | pages=1215–1234
   | jstor=4535886| publisher=Koninklijke Brill | location=Leiden|issn=0005-7959 | doi=10.1163/15685390152822184}}</ref> When specimens from two different populations of ''[[Portia labiata]]'' were set the same task, members of one population determined which method earned them a reward, whilst members of the other continued to use whichever method they tried first and did not try to adapt.<ref name=JacksonEtc2006ConfineProb>{{cite journal | author1=Robert R. Jackson| author2=Fiona R. Cross | author3=Chris M. Carter | title=Geographic Variation in a Spider's Ability to Solve a Confinement Problem by Trial and Error | journal=International Journal of Comparative Psychology | year=2006 | volume=19 | issue=3 | pages=282–296 | doi=10.46867/IJCP.2006.19.03.06 | url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/53c3x1w9;jsessionid=34833B994B69E2CA4DA97613EA34F531#page-1 | access-date=8 June 2011 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406093528/http://escholarship.org/uc/item/53c3x1w9;jsessionid=34833B994B69E2CA4DA97613EA34F531#page-1 | archive-date=6 April 2012 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

As a basic method of pest control in [[bonsai]], a moat may be used to restrict access of crawling insects to the bonsai.{{cn|date=January 2025}}