Butterflies with built-in Solar Cells

Researchers in Canada have discovered that the pigmentation in butterfly wings indicates how far they migrate. The team, led by Daniel Hanleyat the university of Guelph, studied monarch butterflies, which migrate from Canada to Mexico.

They found that monarchs picked up in the northern US had less melanin - a dark reddish pigmentation- than those found in the Gulf of Mexico.

The researchers think the butterflies might use the pigment to absorb more thermal energy from the sun in order to fuel their journeys, enabling them to fly further and faster.