Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ocean-Crossing Dragonflies Discovered

Posted by samzenpus on from the incredible-journey dept.

grrlscientist writes "While living and working as a marine biologist in Maldives, Charles Anderson noticed sudden explosions of dragonflies at certain times of year. He explains how he carefully tracked the path of a plain, little dragonfly called the Globe Skimmer, Pantala flavescens, only to discover that it had the longest migratory journey of any insect in the world."

5 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Maldives by spyder-implee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can think of worse places to study :)

    --
    Take what ye can. Give nothing back!
  2. Impressive... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There just isn't much room for energy storage inside a dragonfly. They must have commendably efficient ways of staying in the air, presumably a combination of powered flight and exploitation of available air currents.

    It would be interesting to know what percentage of them survive.

    1. Re:Impressive... by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well... they are insects, so their strategy is usually based in numbers. Maybe only 1 in 5 dragonflies (warning, numbers made up) get to end the travel safely; that would be unacceptable for men or other animals that take years to mature but for insects could be reasonable.

      --
      Why can't /. have a rich-text editor? Editing your own HTML is so XXth century.
  3. Name by treeves · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Was it called the Globe Skimmer before his discovery? If so, it was quite a prescient name.

    --
    ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    1. Re:Name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ... before HIS discovery...

      As in the discovery that it flew so far.