Concepcion, Chile (Reuters) – Chilean Patagoni is a small and powerful insect that lives throughout her life in frozen ice rivers while feeding on algae and bacteria.
The black insect is a finger with long antennas of only 15 millimeters (0.6 inches) one of the few creatures capable of surviving such harsh conditions, but it is now a species threatened with extinction as global warming speeds the loss of ice rivers.
Marbitte Gamboa, a researcher at the University of Chile at the University of California, presented a study aimed at preserving the Patagonian dragon, as well as the ice rivers inhabited.
“The research aims to understand the ice rivers and understand how Dragon Patagonian lives,” Gambawa said, adding that scientists took samples of the insect to understand the genes that adapted to its cruel climate.
It was first discovered in the fifties of the last century, and it was believed that the Patagoni dragon had become extinct until it was discovered during an exploratory trip in 2001.
The great insect can survive up to 40 meters and is seen as an indication of clean ice water because it works as a natural filter, and it feeds on organic materials, dust and bacteria.
This, as Gamboa hopes, allows the insect to become a measure of the health of the iceberg in the world of warming.
“It is a mixture of dragon study and how climate change affects the ice rivers and its dictations,” Gamboa said. “This allows us to use it as a guardian for climate change in the region.”
(Joan Gonzalez and Reuters reported by Alexander Feligas, edited by Aurora Elis)
