SCIENCE BRIEFING
Times Staff and Wire Reports
Scientists have uncovered a group of 40 genes that appear to make North America’s monarch butterflies fly thousands of miles south each autumn.
It is the first time that researchers have homed in on the exact genes driving migratory behavior in any animal.
Monarchs are famous for their epic 2,500-mile overland migrations from Canada to Mexico, but what drives them has been a mystery.
The findings were reported Tuesday in the British-based journal BMC Biology.
