Bogong Moths: 14,000 Tagged, 0 in 50 Traps. They're Organising

Transcript of the segment

What BBN said on air. The facts are in the original report: The Guardian.

1. Hank LedgerBogong moths are back in big numbers across eastern Australia, with the endangered species coming back from the brink, The Guardian reports.

2. Hank LedgerI'm holding the thermometer. Vera, your take.

3. Vera BullockHonestly, this is the comeback story of the decade, and somebody get these moths a pageant sash.

4. Vera BullockMiss Eastern Australia, Miss Congeniality, and Miss Please Stop Flying Into My Lamp.

5. Hank LedgerNOT. The sash would get eaten.

6. Dale BearmanResearchers tagged more than fourteen thousand moths in February, and ABC News says none have turned up in fifty light traps.

7. Dale BearmanMy take: they know exactly where the traps are, and they're organising.

8. Hank LedgerHOT. Fourteen thousand moths and not one in a trap. I'd have questions too.

9. Vera BullockHank, that's too generous. One entomologist said it suggests the population may be healthier than estimated. That is not an organised moth.

10. Dale BearmanHealthy is exactly what an organised moth would want us to think.

11. Hank LedgerFine, I'll give it a lukewarm. Now mine.

12. Hank LedgerThese moths crashed by as much as ninety-nine point five percent in twenty seventeen, and that was drought and climate change, not a conspiracy.

13. Hank LedgerI rate the moths HOT. Lost almost all of them, dodged fifty traps, and still can't stay away from a lamp.