Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A steppe eagle: the species is threatened by farming and power lines
Russian scientists tracking migrating eagles ran out of money after some of the birds flew to Iran and Pakistan and their SMS transmitters drew huge data roaming charges.
After learning of the team's dilemma, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon offered to cancel the debt and put the project on a special, cheaper tariff.
The team had started crowdfunding on social media to pay off the bills.
The birds left from southern Russia and Kazakhstan.
The journey of one steppe eagle, called Min, was particularly expensive, as it flew to Iran from Kazakhstan.
Min accumulated SMS messages to send during the summer in Kazakhstan, but it was out of range of the mobile network. Unexpectedly the eagle flew straight to Iran, where it sent the huge backlog of messages.
The price per SMS in Kazakhstan was about 15 roubles (18p; 30 US cents), but each SMS from Iran cost 49 roubles. Min used up the entire tracking budget meant for all the eagles.
The Russian researchers are volunteers at the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre in Novosibirsk. Their crowdfunding appeal, which has paid off more than 100,000 roubles (£1,223), was called "Top up the eagle's mobile".
Image copyright Rrrcn screenshot Image caption The eagles' winter migration routes from Central Asia (RRRCN website)
The SMS messages deliver the birds' coordinates as they migrate, and the team then use satellite photos to see if the birds have reached safe locations. Power lines are a particular threat for the steppe eagles, which are endangered in Russia and Central Asia.
They are currently tracking 13 eagles. The birds breed in Siberia and Kazakhstan, but fly to South Asia for the winter.
Megafon's offer to bail out the team, reported by RIA Novosti news, means they can continue monitoring the eagles' routes, collecting vital data to help their survival.
Electric_Evil on February 19th, 2020 at 23:46 UTC »
Verizon: Hello and thank you for calling Verizon Wireless, how may I assist you today?
Customer: Okay, I know this going to sound crazy, but i had a situation that involved 4 eagles, Iran and Pakistan, and my text messages. I'm calling to see if you can remove the additional $8,000 on my bill this month.
thwinks on February 19th, 2020 at 21:41 UTC »
Should have named that eagle "Max"
Miskatonica on February 19th, 2020 at 20:29 UTC »
More details.
The journey of the eagle named Min was particularly expensive:
Min's transmitter stopped sending texts while in Kazakhstan, because it was out of range of the mobile network. Then Min unexpectedly flew straight to Iran. In Iran, the backlog of unsent texts got sent all at once. The price per text in Kazakhstan was about 15 roubles (30 US cents), but each SMS from Iran cost 49 roubles. Min used up the entire tracking budget meant for all 14 of the eagles.Edit: A redditor asked where in the article it mentioned the loan. It doesn't mention it in the posted article, but I sourced the story from multiple articles.
The loan was mentioned in numerous ones, and here's the direct quote from one of the scientists from this article (I added bold):
"They really left us penniless, we had to take out a loan to feed the tracker device," wrote Igor Karyakin of the Russian Raptors Research and Conservation Network. "These beasts were out of range in Kazakhstan all summer and once they reached the super expensive Iran and Pakistan, they are spewing out hundreds of text messages with their locations."