61–70 of 101 posts
How is this possible? I cant even walk 10 miles without needing food. Where did the butterflies store their energy? So many questions... Amazing if true.
> How is this possible? Countries in the Caribbean regularly get air quality problems because of wind borne dust. From Africa.
Feels like it's more likely they got trapped in a plane, ship, box and got there unwillingly. I'm surprised as a scientist you can get to this conclusion
There are times when you can cross the Atlantic on wind power without stopping. In 2016, Stan Honey, the inventor of car navigation, took a 100-foot sailboat across the Atlantic without tacking, knocking 27 hours off the previous time.[1] They kept the crew on standby until wind conditions were perfect, then set sail. The butterflies were lucky. There must be many others that didn't make it. [1] https://www.yachtingw…
I imagine most of the tortoises that found themselves floating in the Pacific never made landfall!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I certainly hope the butterfly has more energy after eating through one apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries, five oranges, a chocolate cake, an ice-cream, a pickle, a cheese, a salami, a lollipop, a cherry pie, a sausage, a cupcake, a watermelon, and finally a green leaf.
For the out of loop non-Anglo parents / non-parents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Hungry_Caterpillar
There are times when you can cross the Atlantic on wind power without stopping. In 2016, Stan Honey, the inventor of car navigation, took a 100-foot sailboat across the Atlantic without tacking, knocking 27 hours off the previous time.[1] They kept the crew on standby until wind conditions were perfect, then set sail. The butterflies were lucky. There must be many others that didn't make it. [1] https://www.yachtingw…
>The butterflies were lucky. There must be many others that didn't make it. "Nature is prolific. There are many more creatures that are born than can possibly survive." -- Carl Sagan It's a feature, not a bug! (pardon the pun)
Over a decade ago, a snowy owl made its way to the island of Oahu on its own. Sadly, it had to be killed because it arrived near Honolulu’s international airport and could not captured by animal control. An autopsy revealed that this owl had expended so much energy crossing the pacific that it almost certainly would have died of exhaustion within a few hours of its arrival. But, it still made it.
Hawaii has its own species of Owl. Their ancestors must have made a similar journey and had just enough luck to survive and establish a population there.
I’m fascinated by this. How did it happen? No owls migrate to Hawaii. Did this one get lost in a storm? Was it sheer luck that this owl picked the right direction while flying over the open ocean to end up finding Oahu? Do some owls just feel an urge to pick a direction and just keep flying? Was this one owl’s magnificent flight the result of some undescribed phenomenon?
Perhaps there is some rare instinct which inspires an individual to go on a suicidal journey into the unknown. A species sacrificing an individual to make the gamble that it will end up in some far flung biome and establishing itself there.
The flip side of this story is realizing just how many more snowy owls must have ended up over the Pacific Ocean and kept flying until they unceremoniously perished amongst the waves.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2012/01/details-emerge-about-snowy...