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Science              Friday 12 august 2022
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            Scientists use tiny trackers, plane to follow moths on move                                                                      HEALTH


                                                                                                                                   DOCTOR ON DUTY
            By MADDIE BURAKOFF
            AP Science Writer                                                                                                           Oranjestad
            NEW  YORK  (AP)  —  Trillions                                                                                       Hospital 7:00 pm / 10:00pm
            of  insects  migrate  across                                                                                        Tel. 527 4000
            the  globe  each  year,  yet                                                                                              San Nicolas
            little  is  known  about  their                                                                                      Imsan 24 hours
            journeys.  So  to  look  for                                                                                         Tel.524 8833
            clues, scientists in Germany                                                                                        Women in Difficulties
            took  to  the  skies,  placing                                                                                      PHARMACY ON DUTY
            tiny  trackers  on  the  backs
            of giant moths and follow-                                                                                          Oranjestad:
                                                                                                                                Kibrahacha tel. 583 4908
            ing them by plane.                                                                                                  San Nicolas:
            To the researchers’ surprise,                                                                                       seroe Preto tel. 584 4833
            the moths seemed to have                                                                                            Women in Difficulties
            a  strong  sense  of  where                                                                                         OTHER
            they  were  going.  Even                                                                                            Dental Clinic 587 9850
            when the winds changed,                                                                                             Blood Bank Aruba 587 0002
            the  insects  stayed  on  a                                                                                         Urgent Care 586 0448
            straight  course,  the  scien-                                                                                      Walk-In Doctor’s Clinic
                                                                                                                                +297 588 0539
            tists  reported  in  a  study                                                                                       Women in Difficulties
            published  Thursday  in  the                                                                                        EMERGENCY
            journal Science.
            Their  flight  paths  suggest   In this undated image provided by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, after tagging,   Police         100
            these  death’s-head  hawk    moths are released in Konstanz, Germany, and followed in a light aircraft for up to 80 kilometers   Oranjestad      527 3140
            moths  have  some  com-      into the Alps.                                                                         Noord             527 3200
                                                                                                                                                  527 2900
                                                                                                                                Sta. Cruz
            plex  navigation  skills,  the                                                                     Associated Press   San  Nicolas      584 5000
            authors  said,  challenging                                                                                         Police Tipline      11141
            earlier  ideas  that  insects   migration path toward the   or rising up to catch a help-  in the study.            Ambulancia        911
            are just wanderers.          Alps.  Wikelski,  the  study’s   ful tail wind.           “I was surprised at how far   Fire Dept.       115
            “For  many,  many  years,  it   pilot,  took  off  in  his  plane,   Though  the  number  of   they  could  track  them,”   Red Cross      582 2219
            was thought that insect mi-  circling the area and wait-  moths  tracked  was  fairly   Norris said. “And it certainly   TAXI SERVICES
            gration was mostly just dic-  ing  for  any  moths  on  the   small, getting any close-up   is  surprising  that  individual   Taxi Tas    587 5900
            tated  by  winds,  and  they   move.  If  he  did  pick  up  a   look  at  insect  migration  is   moths  stay  on  this  straight   Prof. Taxi   588 0035
            were  blowing  around,”      signal  from  a  tiny  traveler,   significant, said Ryan Norris,   trajectory.”q      Taxi D.T.S.    587 2300
            said  lead  author  Myles    he  would  follow  its  radio   an  insect  and  bird  migra-                          Taxi Serv. Aruba 583 3232
            Menz,  now  a  zoologist  at   blips for hours at a time.  tion researcher at the Uni-                              A1 Taxi Serv.   280 2828
            James  Cook  University  in   “The  little  moth  is  guiding   versity of Guelph in Cana-                          Women in Difficulties
            Australia.                   you,” he said.               da, who was not involved                                  TRAVEL INFO
            It’s  been  tough  for  scien-  The  researchers  followed                                                          Aruba Airport   524 2424
            tists to get a close look at   the flight paths of 14 moths,   Paradise Beach Villas                                American Airlines 582 2700
            how  insects  travel,  in  part   with  their  longest  track   refurbished townhouse                               Avianca       588 0059
            because of their small size,   around  56  miles  (90  kilo-  For Sale wk 32. 2 bedr., 2 bathr                      Jet Blue      588 2244
            Menz  said.  The  kinds  of   meters).  Not  only  did  the   sleeps 6, large, 2 balc, 2 pools                      Surinam       582 7896
            radio  tags  used  to  follow   moths  fly  in  straight  lines,   great beach, sunset, 3 restaur.                  Women in Difficulties
            birds can be too heavy for   but  they  also  seemed  to   For Sale Eagle Aruba Resorts                             AID FOUNDATIONS
            smaller fliers.              work  around  wind  condi-   & Casino wk 32. 2 bedr.,                                  FAVI- Visually Impaired
            But  transmitters  have  got-  tions, Menz said, flying low   sleeps 6 overlooking pool                             Tel. 582 5051
            ten tinier. And it helps that   to  the  ground  when  the   CaLL usa 941-343-1088
            the  death’s-head  hawk      winds  were  against  them,   ________________________________215587                   Alcoholics Anonymous
                                                                                                                                Tel. 736 2952
            moth is huge compared to                                                                                            Narcotics Anonymous
            other insects, with a wing-                                                                                         Tel. 583 8989
            span  up  to  5  inches  (127                                                                                       Fundacion Contra Violencia
            millimeters).                                                                                                       Relacional Tel. 583 5400
            The  iconic  species  dark                                                                                          Centre for Diabetes
            colored with yellow under-                                                                                          Tel. 524 8888
            wings  and  skull-like  mark-                                                                                       Child Abuse Prevention
                                                                                                                                Tel. 582 4433
            ings    was  able  to  fly  well
            with the tiny tracker glued                                                                                         Quota Club Tel. 525 2672
                                                                                                                                Women in Difficulties
            to  its  back,  said  Martin                                                                                        General Info
            Wikelski, a study co-author
            and  migration  researcher                                                                                          Phone Directory Tel. 118
            at  Germany’s  Max  Planck
            Institute  for  Animal  Behav-
            ior. The moths are thought
            to  migrate  thousands  of
            miles between Europe and
            Africa in the autumn, flying
            by night.
            For  the  study,  researchers
            released  tagged  moths
            in  Germany  in  the  hopes
            they’d  start  flying  on  their                                                                                     facebook.com/arubatoday/
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