Originally published August 15 2005
Researchers discover how butterflies navigate
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Researchers have found the secret to a butterfly's ability to navigate by looking at its eye and brain tissues.
The phenomenon of long-range bird migration is a well-known one, but not in the insect world.
Also, among birds their migration route is a round-trip one, which they make more than once in their lifetimes, while for the monarch it is strictly a one-way trip for each butterfly.
The mystery of the mechanisms involved in this remarkable phenomenon has been resolved by a team of scientists who did this by exploring the infinitesimal butterfly brain and eye tissues to uncover new insights into the biological machinery that directs this delicate creature on its lengthy flight path.
Others involved were from the Czech Academy of Sciences and the University of California, Irvine.
Their latest findings were published in a recent issue of Neuron magazine, constituting a continuation of their earlier work, published in the journal Science.
While light in general is essential to the functioning of the "biological clock" in the butterfly brain -- governing its metabolic cycles, including its "signal" to migrate -- the researchers discovered that it is specifically the ultraviolet band of light that is crucial to the creature's orientation.
The butterflies have special photoreceptors for ultraviolet (UV) light in their eyes which provide them with their sense of direction.
They proved that this ultraviolet "navigation" is crucial by placing butterflies in a "flight" simulator.
Further probing revealed a key wiring connection between the light-detecting navigation sensors in the butterfly's eye and its brain clock Thus, it was shown that input from two interconnected systems -- UV light detection in the eye and the biological clock in the brain -- together guide the butterflies "straight and true" to their destination at the appointed times in their two-month migration over thousands of miles/kilometers.
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