Researchers Stalked Death’s-Head Hawkmoths in a Plane to Learn Their Navigation Secrets
It’s a bird, it’s a plane—no wait, it’s a migrating moth... being followed by a plane?For the first time, scientists have continually tracked an insect over more than 50 miles of a long-distance migration flight. The resulting observations and data reveal that at least one species of moth is capable of charting a surprisingly straight path. As small as these insects are, they seem to have a robust “internal compass” system that even allows them to navigate around tricky winds and geography, according to the new study…