Adventurous eagle costs scientists hundreds of dollars in cell-phone charges

A female eagle who was being studied by Russian scientists has blown the budget after she made an unexpectedly long overseas flight.

کد خبر: ۹۳۳۰۹۶

تاریخ: ۰۶ آبان ۱۳۹۸ - ۰۹:۱۵

Min, a steppe eagle from Russia, has cost scientists big bucks in cell-phone charges after flying to Iran.

Min is part of a study that tracks 13 migrating eagles using GPS tracking devices that send messages specifying their location.

A steppe eagle can have a wingspan of more than 2 metres.

Normally, the messages are charged to Kazakhstan's reasonable roaming rates but Min was following her own plan - and it was an expensive one.

For much of the summer, Min had remained in an area of Kazakhstan outside cell phone coverage, where she stored a large number of messages that could not be sent.

She then made her way over Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as well as Iran and Saudi Arabia before returning to a garbage dump in Iran.

It was here that accumulated stored messages from the summer were all sent in one go - at a roaming charge of $1.10 per message, leaving scientists to foot the bill of hundreds of dollars in charges.

"She sent us hundreds of expensive SMSs with her summer locations, spending the entire collective budget for our eagles," Novosibirsk ornithologist Elena Schneider said.

Now researchers have started a campaign called 'Top up the eagle's mobile' to fund Min's expensive foreign travel.

"Friends! Comrades! Readers! We have opened for everyone a unique opportunity to top up the eagle's mobile," Elena urged followers on her Telegram channel.

"We really, really need this help now.

"Since Min has already exhausted the eagle budget, and expenses are still serious.

"We cannot let the eagles stop broadcasting - this is a very important study with interesting results."

Min has continued her journey and now looks to be in Saudi Arabia. The map also highlights her earlier travels which saw her reach India.