Latest / The Morning Edition / Bogong moths are swarming homes, and their story is miraculous

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Bogong moths are swarming homes, and their story is miraculous · The Morning Edition

• 0:07
  S1: If you live in a certain part of Australia, then
• 0:09
  S1: you have probably noticed them big moths flying around, clinging
• 0:14
  S1: to glass doors and gathering around lights in massive numbers.
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  S2: What the hell is going on in Sydney with all
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  S2: these moths? It's like a moth invasion.
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  S3: Swarms and swarms and swarms of moths. Like it couldn't
• 0:31
  S3: be butterflies or anything. It was moths.
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  S1: But for all the freak outs across the East Coast,
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  S1: naturalists are rejoicing. I'm Samantha Salinger Morris, and you're listening
• 0:43
  S1: to The Morning Edition from The Age and The Sydney
• 0:45
  S1: Morning Herald. Today, National Environment and climate editor Nick O'Malley
• 0:51
  S1: on the return of the bogong moth after a near
• 0:53
  S1: total population collapse and why they're so important for our landscape.
• 0:59
  S1: It's September the 30th. Welcome, Nick, back to the podcast.
• 1:08
  S4: Oh, thank you for having me.
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  S1: Okay. Well, let's get into this because one of the
• 1:11
  S1: scientists who you spoke to said we've been, quote, blessed
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  S1: by the moth gods. So what is happening? Why are
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  S1: so many homes across the East Coast being swarmed by
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  S1: these insects?
• 1:22
  S5: That was Aisha Kelly, who lives in the Blue Mountains
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  S5: and is a master's student. And I've got to say
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  S5: is a die hard bogong moth buff. She was so
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  S5: excited and so happy and it was lovely to hear. Look,
• 1:35
  S5: at this time of year, we should be. And when
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  S5: I was growing up in this country, we always were.
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  S5: But then what happened is the bogong moths started declining
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  S5: in the 1980s. I'm told there were perhaps 8 billion
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  S5: that were around this time of year come out of
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  S5: their their nests in the lowlands and fly to spend
• 1:55
  S5: summer in caves in the alpines. And then they just
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  S5: started crashing. The numbers started crashing and they're back.
• 2:04
  S6: Forget mozzies and flies though at the moment, because there's
• 2:06
  S6: another insect wreaking havoc in an Australian city right now.
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  S7: As bogong moths migrate south. While they are harmless to humans,
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  S7: they can be annoying, but we're being urged not to
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  S7: hurt them.
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  S8: Spring migration bogong moths is what they're called. They move
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  S8: into alpine regions ahead of the summer, but have plagued
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  S8: Sydney and parts of the south coast in the process.
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  S1: Tell us a bit about the significance of these moths
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  S1: and what role they play in the alpine ecosystem. Because
• 2:38
  S1: you and myself, some of the listeners, they may be
• 2:41
  S1: hearing stories about Sydney couples bickering at night over who's
• 2:44
  S1: going to get up to shoo away the moss in
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  S1: their bedroom. But these moths are actually important, right? For
• 2:50
  S1: certain animals, and I guess broadly for us.
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  S4: Well, if you imagine, uh, just.
• 2:54
  S5: In terms of weight, if you imagine that is is
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  S5: nutrients which have been harvested and grown on the lowlands
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  S5: and then on mass fly to a really fragile, in places,
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  S5: nutrient sparse alpine country. And they bring with it all
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  S5: of that nutrient. It's a massive transfer of, of nutrients.
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  S5: So the energy of life. And so quite famously, they
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  S5: are feed for, um, mountain pygmy possums. There's only about
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  S5: 2000 of those beautiful little critters left, but also for
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  S5: all the birds, all of the small mammals, uh, in,
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  S5: in the alpine regions, but also just for the landscape
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  S5: when they, when those that die up there, they carpet
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  S5: the landscape, they enrich the soil. And traditionally for people,
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  S5: for people that lived in those landscapes, for in those
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  S5: parts of Australia for many, many thousands of years as well,
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  S5: they've been a vital part of, of culture there too.
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  S1: And cooked aren't they a bit of a delicacy, I think,
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  S1: among indigenous groups of, of various, uh, yeah, various parts
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  S1: of Australia I think.
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  S5: Aren't they. I'm told no one's yet, uh, offered me
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  S5: a cooked moth. I probably wouldn't say no. I'd probably
• 4:01
  S5: feel the responsibility to taste it.
• 4:03
  S1: A nutty flavor, I think I understand it, unless I'm mistaken.
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  S5: Don't we always say that about bugs? We say everything
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  S5: on land is chicken and everything else is is nutty.
• 4:13
  S1: That's right. Exactly. Okay, so I guess tell us, you know,
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  S1: they were or they are on the endangered list, right?
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  S1: These moths. Yeah. Okay. They still are. So I guess
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  S1: just tell us, I mean, how bad has the population
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  S1: collapse been and do we actually know what caused it?
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  S5: Well, look, uh, everything I've learned over the past few days,
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  S5: everything I know about Bogong moths, I've learned over the
• 4:33
  S5: past few days. But everything I have heard is that
• 4:36
  S5: scientists still really don't know a lot. We know a bit.
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  S5: And here is what we know. In the 1980s, numbers
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  S5: started to decline, probably because of a range of things,
• 4:47
  S5: including climate change, which was making those caves where they
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  S5: go and spend their their summers warmer and less conducive
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  S5: to their health, probably also because of the use of pesticides,
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  S5: and probably also because of our use of the landscapes
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  S5: that they live on when they're not spending their summers
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  S5: in the hills. Uh, but then we had the terrible
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  S5: drought in 2016, 17, 18, and their numbers absolutely catastrophically collapsed.
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  S5: They dropped by about 99.5%, according to one of the
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  S5: scientists I spoke with yesterday. And in 2020 were listed
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  S5: as endangered, which I remember and which I recall finding
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  S5: profoundly depressing and stunning because they were such a a huge,
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  S5: prevalent part of the landscape of, of my childhood. Since then,
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  S5: numbers have started rebounding a bit because you've got to
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  S5: imagine each of these moths has about 2000 eggs and
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  S5: this year, and no one could tell me exactly why,
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  S5: but there was this massive resurgence. Now, in part, it
• 5:55
  S5: is resurgence. In part, it's probably that there are more
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  S5: being seen in the East Coast cities than is normally
• 6:02
  S5: the case, and that could even be influenced by winds.
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  S5: I know our city lights also attract them in their
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  S5: migration because they normally navigate using the Milky Way. They
• 6:12
  S5: use celestial navigation and magnetic field navigation. They're the only
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  S5: non-vertebrate to do that.
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  S1: After the break.
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  S5: Even if you don't particularly like them, at least feel
• 6:24
  S5: a surge of joy that it suggests that, uh, landscapes
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  S5: and ecosystems are resilient. And given half a break, they
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  S5: can bounce back.
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  S1: And so what can people do if they suddenly find
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  S1: their home hosting hundreds of moths and they perhaps aren't,
• 6:45
  S1: you know, swayed by the celestial navigation that they use
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  S1: and how wonderful they are. And you and I are
• 6:51
  S1: hard agreeing. I mean, obviously sound like incredible creatures. But
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  S1: for those of us who are, let's just say, very
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  S1: basic in terms of our feelings, when we see moths
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  S1: in our homes, what do we do? Nick.
• 7:01
  S5: Pretty simple. Shut your blinds and turn out the lights.
• 7:03
  S1: Yeah.
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  S5: Really? Yeah. It's all you have to do. You'll get
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  S5: a few inside. Try and hunt them out. Yeah.
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  S1: That's right.
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  S5: But but even if you don't particularly like them, at
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  S5: least feel a surge of joy that it suggests that, uh,
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  S5: landscapes and ecosystems are resilient. And given half a break,
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  S5: they can bounce back.
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  S1: I mean, we love that. And I know that, um, another, uh,
• 7:24
  S1: expert doctor, Marissa Parrott, a senior conservation biologist for Zoos Victoria,
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  S1: she says, perhaps we should just marvel. Ryan. We should
• 7:31
  S1: marvel at these beautiful endangered animals.
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  S5: She does. She made the point very beautifully to me that,
• 7:37
  S5: you know, in this, we're we're very lucky that in
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  S5: this country, at this time of year, you don't have
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  S5: to go exploring to see an endangered animal. You can
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  S5: try and hunt it out of your bedroom at night.
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  S1: And so you are, uh, as described, you're on the
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  S1: environment beat. You've been reporting in this area for a
• 7:52
  S1: very long time. Can we safely say that this is
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  S1: an unexpected, perhaps positive environment story on some level?
• 8:01
  S5: Yeah. Look, I think we can. And the scientists I
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  S5: have spoken with over the past couple of days, they
• 8:06
  S5: would agree, but they are cautious too, because they don't
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  S5: fully understand why the numbers appear to have bounced back.
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  S5: We don't fully know how much they've bounced back or
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  S5: how much we're just seeing flight to these animals that
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  S5: would otherwise be inland. And because we don't know what
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  S5: we can better do necessarily to protect them en masse. Yes,
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  S5: it is good news. It is unalloyed good news. No, no,
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  S5: we can't yet just relax and say, oh, that that
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  S5: issue is over. We still need to be mindful of it.
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  S5: And I think people are.
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  S1: And just to wrap up, Nick, you know, big question
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  S1: that I imagine many listeners will be thinking, which is
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  S1: how long is this swarming going to go on for? When,
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  S1: when is this going to stop? Nick.
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  S5: Look, I think we're near the end. They've been already
• 8:51
  S5: on the movement. For some weeks. They will want to
• 8:54
  S5: be in the mountains before it gets much hotter.
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  S1: Well, thank you so much for your time and for
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  S1: an unexpected good story in what is, you know, often
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  S1: a grim news cycle.
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  S5: No, look, I'm glad to provide. I'm glad the moth
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  S5: gods provided.
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  S1: Yeah. That's right. And who knows? Maybe you and I
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  S1: have a nutty snack in the office in our near future.
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  S5: We'll see if someone sends us something.
• 9:28
  S1: In other news, today, the reserve Bank has lifted interest
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  S1: rates to 4.6% in a 15 year high to combat
• 9:35
  S1: inflation and has not ruled out further hikes despite rising unemployment,
• 9:40
  S1: falling house prices and sluggish economic growth. Open AI has
• 9:44
  S1: apologised to Australians after revealing its AI model took credentials
• 9:49
  S1: and internal files from a Medicare portal and attempted to
• 9:53
  S1: breach New South Wales and Victorian government systems. And Sarah
• 9:57
  S1: Hanson-Young has announced she will run for the Greens leadership
• 10:00
  S1: ahead of a vote later this week, as the party
• 10:03
  S1: picks its third leader in less than two years. The
• 10:07
  S1: Greens leadership was unexpectedly thrown into contention when current leader
• 10:11
  S1: Larissa Waters announced her resignation on Monday due to illness.
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  S1: You can read more at the age.com.au or smh.com.au. Today's
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  S1: episode was produced by Kai Wong. Our executive producer is
• 10:28
  S1: Tammy Mills, and our podcasts are overseen by Lisa Muxworthy
• 10:31
  S1: and Tom McKendrick. If you like our show, follow The
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• 10:38
  S1: or Spotify. Thanks for listening.