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55M Monarchs Can't Be Wrong

Internal clock of 1-ounce butterfly sheds light on human sense of time

By Ambreen Ali,  Newser User

Posted Feb 11, 2008 4:58 PM CST

(Newser) – The 1-ounce monarch butterfly may have a thing or two to teach us: Each year, some 55 million monarchs make a 4,000-mile multigenerational journey from Canada to Mexico, returning to the same forest, often the same tree, without relying on GPS. How? The insects rely on a unique internal clock that may be the prototype for our own, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Two types of light-sensitive genes guide the butterflies, which breed and die every few weeks en route, leaving the next generation to continue the journey. New research shows the gene working like a stopwatch to create a sense of how much time has passed. That innate chronometer allows butterflies to navigate over astonishing distances. "In its biochemical essence," the Journal writes, "the monarch butterfly is a distillation of time and light, given wing."

 Humans share a light-sensitive gene with the monarch butterfly that scientists say could be what guides our sleeping cycle.  (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
Humans share a light-sensitive gene with the monarch butterfly that scientists say could be what guides our sleeping cycle. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)   (Associated Press)
The monarch butterfly, pictured in this file photo, travels 4,000 miles annually and uses its genes to guide it.
The monarch butterfly, pictured in this file photo, travels 4,000 miles annually and uses its genes to guide it.   (Getty Images)
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