Jules P Poirier: “Monarch Butterflies and Navigation”

Prabhupada, The Science of Self Realization: “The butterfly also exhibits such artistic symmetry. So this is all being painted, but in such a perfect way and so swiftly that we cannot see how. We cannot understand how it is being done, but it is being done by the energy of the Lord.”
Jules P Poirier, answersingenesis.org: …Monarch butterflies in North America use a Sun compass during their southward autumn migration, orienting their bodies using the time of day and position of the Sun. The monarch butterfly thus joins the small group of species for which a Sun compass orientation mechanism has been demonstrated experimentally. In the absence of celestial cues on overcast days, however, monarchs still manage to orient towards the south-southwest, suggesting that they also have a non-celestial backup mechanism of orientation, such as a geomagnetic compass.

It would be extremely difficult for humans to duplicate the navigational achievements of monarch butterflies. Human navigators would require a clock, a sextant, a current astronomical almanac, a compass, and a current magnetic map of the region. Even with these instruments, they would require a high level of observational skill and computational ability to travel some 3600 km across a continent between specific locations.
With these instruments, human navigators could determine their latitude by measuring the sun’s maximum height angle (Hm) at midday and the length of daylight time (Td). By comparing their measured (Hm) and (Td) with values in their astronomical almanac, the navigators could determine their latitude and calendar date. Navigators could determine their longitude east or west of their starting longitude by measuring the differential sunrise time (TSR) at each new position along their journey. Alternatively, human navigators could determine their longitude by measuring the error angle (E) between magnetic north and true north.
It is possible that the monarch butterfly could accurately measure the sun’s position in the sky with respect to other geographical features using its two amazing 6,000-lens compound eyes. Furthermore, the butterfly may be able to accurately keep track of the time with a biological clock similar to those in other organisms. Detection of the earth’s magnetic field is feasible because the monarch butterfly has magnetite in its body by which it could position itself accordingly.
However, little is understood about how the monarch butterfly could have access to information about the sun’s position at different geographical locations at different times of the year, or information on the direction of the earth’s magnetic field in different parts of a continent.
Nor is it known how a butterfly could plan its journey to obtain the navigational information about its destination and its intermediate positions along the way.
Even more amazing is how the necessary navigational data base could be passed from generation to generation.
The sheer complexity of the navigational task suggests that the monarch butterfly uses navigational techniques different from those which humans would use to accomplish the same feat. Experimental work is necessary to help resolve what navigational methods are used by the butterfly to accomplish its long migration.
Only the Creator knows how monarch butterflies navigate, but we have shown how difficult it would be for human navigators equipped with very basic measuring instruments to determine their position on the earth. How the Creator implements these complex features into the design of the monarch butterfly is unknown. Such a result could not have come about by random chance.