Scientists used tiny new sensors to follow the insects on journeys that take thousands of miles to their winter colonies in Mexico.
The “some monarch butterflies migrate over the open ocean from Florida to Mexico” hypothesis has always seemed pretty bonkers, so it’s fascinating that we’re finally getting evidence. Also of great interest: whether the Western and Eastern populations mix, and if so how, for its implications on population stabilization west of the continental divide. As mentioned in the article, all monarchs are struggling, but the Western monarch is on the brink of extinction.
Cool, but…
equivalent to a half-raisin carrying three uncooked grains of rice.
What a completely useless comparison.
By my math, it’s equivalent to a typical human carrying an 18-22 lb backpack. Why wouldn’t they just say that?
My half raisins are just overburdened by all these grains of rice
Why would you use something useless like lb that means nothing in 99% of the civilized world?
By my math you’re referring to a backpack weighing about 8-10kg in SI units.
Why would you use something useless like kg that means nothing in 99.999…% of the natural universe?
By my math you’re referring to a backpack weighing about (3.7–4.6) × 10⁸ Planck masses.
As a strong proponent of the metric system, I humbly conceed your point.
It’s 95%. If you’re going to be annoying at least do it right.
Oh my bad. You’re probably still considering the US part of the civilized world? I was only talking about Liberia and Myanmar actually.
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Yeah. The minute I read the title I thought, Please don’t tell me they’re sticking cameras on these poor creatures. It disturbs me that no scientists seem to care about strapping cameras to wild creatures and what effect that has on their already difficult lives.
Even if they convince themselves that what they’re doing is somehow necessary they could at the very least admit the harm they are doing to the animal.
BlūMorpho
The breakthrough is the result of a tiny solar-powered radio tag that weighs just 60 milligrams and sells for $200. Researchers have tagged more than 400 monarchs this year and are now following their journeys on a cellphone app created by the New Jersey-based company that makes the tags, Cellular Tracking Technologies.Cool shit! Can’t wait for it to be weaponised against society.
Whenever public high-tech stuff comes up, you have to know that there has been, for a long time, even more advanced, more miniaturized, secret devices that have been used for secret services, military & the likes
