Thousands of animal species migrate worldwide on and between the continents of our world. It has recently become possible to follow them from space. This provides surprisingly new insights – from which people also benefit.
It is one of the most massive behavioral science projects ever launched on Earth. Hundreds of thousands of animals are observed on their migrations via satellite. Migratory birds as well as bears and bees, turtles, bats and migrating herds of cattle. It’s called ICARUS – and unlike its mythological ancestor, which got too close to the sun and crashed into the sea, it flies permanently. The name stands for the “International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space”, led by Martin Wikelski, director of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology in Konstanz.
More than 20 years passed before ICARUS took off. Years of tinkering, developing and crafting. Years full of euphoric moments and devastating setbacks. In this book, he tells how Wikelski and his team helped a vision achieve a breakthrough. How it was possible to make the transmitters smaller and smaller so that even a hummingbird could carry them without any problems. How the collaboration with the International Space Station ISS came about and why new types of small satellites are now being used to monitor animal migration. And how Russia’s attack on Ukraine almost led to ICARUS losing its wings: From one day to the next, the exchange between scientists and their colleagues at the Russian space agency was blocked.
The long path from idea to realization reads like a technical thriller. But Wikelski also sprinkles in amusing and informative chapters from his research on Earth. Sometimes a stork plays the main role, sometimes a baby sea lion, sometimes Berta, the earthquake cow. It becomes clear why the networking of global observation data – the “Internet of Animals” – is so important for species protection and for understanding the consequences of climate change.
PS: When choosing the title, one would have liked a little more inspiration from the publisher. Jürgen Nakott
Martin Wikelski
The Internet of Animals
What we can learn from the swarm intelligence of life
Malik, 320 p., € 25,–
ISBN 978-3-89029-561-9