Eagles fly to Iran, rack up huge roaming charges
Enlarge (credit: Joe McDonald / Getty)
A group of Russian scientists was hit by crippling roaming charges after some of the eagles the researchers were studying flew to countries with high roaming charges, including Iran, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan. The birds were outfitted with electronic devices that tracked their locations and sent back status updates a few times a day.
The scientists have been tracking eagle migration patterns since 2015. This year, the scientists were tracking 13 endangered steppe eagles who spend summers in northern latitudes in Russia and Kazakhstan. In the fall, the birds fly south, passing through countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The BBC reports that one eagle, named Min, was particularly expensive for the scientists. He spent his summer in Kazakhstan out of range of cell phone towers. During this period, his tracking device queued up hundreds of messages to send later.