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CrowdScience: How high can insects fly?

Discussion & Talk

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05/03/2022 GMT

How high can insects fly?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, How high can insects fly?

Insect superhighways, bees up mountains & flies in space – just how high can insects go?

From insect superhighways way above our heads to bumblebees hanging out in the highest mountains and even flies in space, just how high can insects go?

If you took a fly into a really tall elevator and let it out at the top, would it still be able to fly? And what’s the absolute highest an insect could possibly go? It’s a question that’s been bugging CrowdScience listener Chee for a while, but presenter Alex Lathbridge is on the case.
He discovers that when they’re not buzzing around your lunch, insects can be routinely found flying high up in the atmosphere travelling from A to B. There are also ground-dwelling bumblebees living in the mountains of Sichuan, China that have demonstrated an ability to fly at altitudes higher than the highest point on the planet.
But leaving aside how high insects DO fly, how high COULD they fly if given the chance? Alex explores the theoretical limits of insect flight with the help of a bit of biomechanics – before contemplating the ultimate heights of the International Space Station where the mystery of whether a fruit fly will fly in zero gravity is finally answered.
Contributors:
Jason Chapman, University of Exeter
Inés Dawson, science youtuber and expert in insect flight biomechanics
Michael Dillon, University of Wyoming
Wes Shaw, Head Gardener, Sky Garden
Sharmila Bhattacharya, NASA

Presented by Alex Lathbridge
Produced by Ben Motley for the BBC World Service

[Photop credit: Getty Images]

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