Miniature Tags Track Dragonflies

celardore writes "BBC News reports about the epic journeys taken by dragonflies searching for warmer climates have been revealed by scientists in the US. The team, led by researchers from Princeton University, found that the insects are capable of flying up to 85 miles (137 km) in a day. Each transmitter weighed about a third of a gram and had enough battery life to track an individual for 10 days; but tagging such small creatures is far from easy. "The challenge is first catching the dragonfly," said Professor Wilcove. Once caught, each transmitter was attached with a couple of drops of superglue and some eye-lash adhesive."

A similar experiment

[Anonymous Coward]

The same transmitters attached to mosquitos lead to a surprising result: each tagged mosquito stayed in the exact same meter squared for all 10 days of the experiment. Scientists are baffled because previous theories postulated that mosquitos were able to travel much longer distances.

What's that?

[Bacon Bits]

"The challenge is first catching the dragonfly"

O RLY?

One doubt left

[Nuffsaid]

I wonder how far these insects can fly when not burdened with an electronic tag. Or a coconut. African dragonflies, I mean.

Scientist were even more baffled

[SmallFurryCreature]

When they learned that insects wich fly over tarmac can reach speeds of up to 120km/h but tend to do a lot of travelling between cities 5 days a week and take a trip to the beach on weekends. This leads them conclude that tarmac helps dragonflys achieve great speed. As further evidenced by insects flying near the great stretches of tarmac around airports can fly up to and over the speed of sound.

Science. Love it.

Still, 1/3 of a gram transmitter. That 100 gram cellphone ain't all that hot now is it.