Government Using Drones To Release Pest-Controlling Moths
- 9 years ago
The USDA is using drones to release thousands of pink, irradiated moths over cotton fields infested with bollworms.
Scientists and government agencies have a history of dropping animals and insects out of planes as a means of eliminating pests.
This time around, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is employing drones to get the job done.
The pest in question is the pink bollworm, the nemesis of cotton crops, and the drone’s cargo consists of hundreds of thousands of custom bred, irradiated red moths.
Radiation renders the flying insects sterile, and the plan is for them to falsely mate with the worms.
As the red moths can’t aid in the actual produc
Scientists and government agencies have a history of dropping animals and insects out of planes as a means of eliminating pests.
This time around, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is employing drones to get the job done.
The pest in question is the pink bollworm, the nemesis of cotton crops, and the drone’s cargo consists of hundreds of thousands of custom bred, irradiated red moths.
Radiation renders the flying insects sterile, and the plan is for them to falsely mate with the worms.
As the red moths can’t aid in the actual produc