This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that painted lady butterflies achieve the longest known insect migration from the Sahara Desert to Europe. The painted lady is one of the most familiar butterflies in the world, inhabiting every continent except Australia and Antarctica. The number of painted lady butterflies that take part in these migrations varies wildly, sometimes 100 times more from one year to the next. In this new study, researchers used long-term monitoring alongside climatic datasets and population modelling to understand what makes this migration possible, confirming that under favourable conditions the painted lady is in fact capable of this up to 14,000 km round trip, making it the longest known insect migration in the world. Modelling and studying these migratory events help us to better understand the behaviour and lifecycles of these butterflies.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 25, 2021 07:53 UTC