Animals That Migrate Long Distances
The Arctic tern migrates the longest distances of any animal.
Animals that migrate long distances. In the case of humpback whales we may have found the answer. Migration is the process of a species moving long distances in search of food mates or better climates. Bighorn sheep migrate on long journeys following a wave of green as plants come to life.
Some whales migrate latitudinally north-south some move between onshore and offshore areas and some do both. Bighorn sheep like this ram photographed in Montanas Yellowstone National Park must learn the best migration strategy from their mothers. Like many creatures humpback whales migrate long distances for feeding and mating purposes.
The concept of animal migration is typically associated to the wide-ranging movements of flying or terrestrial animals like the epic voyages of Serengeti wildebeests or the migratory flights of the billions of Passerine birds that every autumn move towards low latitude areas to winter 1 2. The best-known and most visible migratory animals are birds but mammals reptiles. This movement exists in all the main animal groups which includes birds fish insects amphibians crustaceans mammals and reptiles.
They migrate in herds of up to 100000 animals. Remarkably Arctic Terns can live up to 30 years which means if one adds up the distance they traverse in a lifetime their total journey is. Wikipedia summarized a number of methods whereby animals find their way.
Many animals are known to move long distances relative to their body size during their lifetime. By far the longest migration known in the animal kingdom this medium-sized bird travels 90000 km 55923 mi from pole to pole every year from Greenland in the North to the Weddell Sea in the South. In a study published in Nature Communications researchers found that migratory animals have a shorter lifespan than their homebody counterparts.
The birds in these flocks breed in Iceland and might also visit the. Examples of animals that migrate include the gray whale caribou monarch butterfly Arctic tern bar-tailed godwit Canada goose Chinook salmon leatherback sea turtle and blue wildebeest. Caribou spend the summer in the Canadian Arctic and then travel up to one thousand kilometers to the forests along the American border.