Watch: Butterflies can't fly in space

Monarch butterflies raised on the International Space Station found their near-zero gravity enclosure to be a terrible place for a flight. Watch their flailing fail.

Sun, Dec 06 2009 at 9:41 PM

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Science

Astronauts on board the International Space Station have successfully raised monarch butterflies from caterpillers in an experiment cooridinated between the universities of Kansas and Colorado (Boulder). The butterflies can't fly.

Poor little butterflies, talk about a cold slap in the face of expectation. For countless millennia monarch butterflies have hatched knowing that, at the very least, they could count on having some gravity around. How confused are these guys? :D

These two butterflies cling to each other and have seemingly conceded that flapping their wings is of no use.

In this video, Dr. Chip Taylor, the director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, talks about the experiment.

Via Huffington Post

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