Department BS-Zoology

Section “A5-Z"
Subject “Animal Behaviour”

Assignment Submitted to:

Madam. “Syeda Samra”
Submitted by:
M. Abu Talha Hashmi = L1F21BSZL0013
Assignment Topic:

“Animal Migration and Movement”

“University of Central Punjab”

Animal Migration and Movement:

For millennia, humans have been fascinated by animal migration. Long-distance migrants do some
of the most astounding feats of endurance, such as the bar-tailed godwit's nine-day non-stop flight
across the Pacific Ocean.

What is migration?

The seasonal movement of a flock of birds between breeding and non-breeding habitats is most
commonly associated with migration. In actuality, bird migration is the biological phenomenon
that has attracted the most non-scientists interest and has one of the oldest histories of scientific
investigation in biology. There are several varieties of animal migration, including east-west
migration, complex round-trips that include land and ocean, altitudinal treks up and down
mountains, and vertical migrations through the water column of oceans and lakes. Migration is
distinct from other forms of movement in that it frequently involves transitioning from one type
of habitat to another.

Who Migrates?

Migratory animals may be found in all major branches of the animal kingdom. Fish, crustaceans,
amphibians, reptiles, insects, mammals, and slime molds are among the taxa featured. The lengths
of some of the voyages, as well as the heights at which they can occur, are just astounding (Table
1).
 Table 1. Guinness records held by animal migrants
Smallest migrant
Largest migrant
Longest mammal
migration
Longest insect migration
Longest recorded round-
trip
Highest migration altitude
1–2 mm long Zooplankton (crab larvae, copepods, etc.)
24–27 m long Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
Up to 8,500 km each way Humpback whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae)
Up to 4,750 km in the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
autumn
80,000 km Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea)
9,000 asl Bar-headed goose (Anser indicus)

The bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) has one of the longest non-stop flights (Figure 1). L.
baueri breeds in Alaska and migrates south to Australia and New Zealand, where it does not breed.
Individuals were tracked using lightweight satellite tags, and it was discovered that these birds can
fly across the Pacific Ocean in a marathon voyage lasting more than 9 days, making it one of the
most astounding accomplishments among migratory species (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Bar-tailed Godwit feeding on a bivalve on northward migration at Yalu Jiang River,
Yellow Sea, China
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is perhaps the most well-known insect migratory. Every
summer, more than 100 million people migrate across North America to overwinter up to 4,750
kilometers south in California and Mexico. The entire move necessitates an intergenerational relay.
Because the duration of these travels surpasses their lives, no single person completes the whole
round trip. Instead, during migrating, females deposit eggs, from which the next generation of
migrants arises. Monarch butterflies feed on milkweeds (Asclepiadaceae), which contain noxious
chemicals to vertebrates and hence protect the monarch from any possible predators.

Figure 2: Flight paths of nine bar-tailed godwits fitted with satellite transmitters during their
southbound journey. One female flew from Alaska to the non-breeding grounds in New Zealand
on a nonstop 11,680 km flight across the Pacific Ocean that lasted more than 8 days.

Why Migrate?

Migration is an adaptive response to seasonal or regional variations in resource availability. The

seasonal cycle causes considerable changes in the length and intensity of solar radiation received
in each hemisphere at any one moment. Many migrants take advantage of good food and weather
conditions available in some places for a brief time. For example, migratory birds that reproduce
at high latitudes (e.g., on the arctic tundra) take advantage of the remarkable amount of food for a
few weeks in early summer and benefit from long days, which allow them to increase foraging
time. They avoid the northern winters with short days, cold temperatures, and limited food supply
by departing these locations after reproducing. In other circumstances, the materials required at
different phases of life may be found in different places. Young salmon, for example, move the
sea to take advantage of the abundant food and high development potential available there, but
must eventually return upstream to the narrow rocky tributaries necessary for spawning, a journey
that can take thousands of kilometers.

Preparing for Migration:

Some migratory species graze along their migration paths, whereas others, such as the Pacific-
bound bar-tailed godwit, do not. As a result, most migrants consume heavily before embarking on
their journey to replenish their fuel reserves. This behavior is known as hyperphagia, and it is
observed in animals as diverse as monarch butterflies, caribou, and baleen whales. It is driven by
an internal circannual cycle. Fat is the primary source of energy for migration. Fat stores around
8–10 times more energy than the comparable quantity of carbohydrate or protein, making fat the
preferred fuel. Migrants may store and mobilize significant quantities of fat: long-distance fliers
can quadruple their body weight before departure, and a monarch butterfly can store up to 125
percent of its lean dry weight as fat. The accumulation of energy reserves is not the only
physiological alteration that is occurring. Because migrating is an energy-intensive endeavor, some
migrants reduce superfluous weight and improve flight efficiency by altering the size of their
internal organs. Organs connected to flying, such as the heart and flight muscles, grow in size in
some bird migrants in preparation for migration. Eating organs, on the other hand (e.g., stomach,
gut, liver, and kidneys) shrink before departure and restore to normal size upon arrival, when
feeding and digestion resume. Some insects exhibit similar changes: for example, monarch
butterflies traveling south across North America in the autumn have no sexual organs, which
develop in the surviving individuals the following spring.
Navigation During Migration

Visible Cues:

Visible cues such as local terrain are the most prominent indications utilized by migrants to locate
their route. Some animals, such as birds, insects, and crabs, may employ polarized light patterns,
which occur when light is dispersed by airborne particles. The pattern of polarized light in the sky
varies as the sun moves throughout the day, allowing these animals to navigate on overcast days
when the sun is not visible. Some migrants utilize the location of the stars based on the rotation of
the night sky around a fixed point when traveling at night. This point is known as the Pole Star in
the northern hemisphere.

Invisible Cue:

Other orientation signals, such as olfactory and magnetic cues, are unseen. By regularly surveying
the saltwater for changing quantities of mineral salts, salmon traveling in the open ocean may
locate the mouth of their natal river. A wide variety of animals, including birds, butterflies,
salamanders, lobsters, bats, whales, turtles, and sharks, employ magnetic signals. The Earth has a
doughnut-shaped magnetic field that is made up of elliptical force lines that run between the
magnetic north and south poles. Animal magnetic compasses detect the changing angle of
magnetic force lines, the north-south polarity, or even the intensity of the Earth's magnetic field,
depending on the species.

What Triggers Migration?

There is a clear relationship between day duration and the onset of migration in birds. When
released, dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) and American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
housed in artificially prolonged light periods fly north, but controls kept in natural light
circumstances move south. Hormones are also thought to have a function in migration regulation.
In the spring, bird migration is assumed to be influenced by the gonadal state, but not in the fall.
Changes in the action of the juvenile hormone are responsible for transitions between migratory
and reproductive life stages in many insects, and gregarious swarms of locusts are influenced by
the hormone serotonin. In birds, fishes, and other migrants, the links between day length, yearly
reproductive cycle, and migration are now well known.
Ecological significance of migration

There are many ecological implications of migration. The food resources of some regions would
not be adequately exploited without moving populations. The sequence of migratory movement is
closely integrated into the annual cycle of ecosystems characterized by productivity fluctuations.
Migratory behavior concerns only species located at specific trophic levels (zones of food
availability) where maximal fluctuations occur both in breeding areas and in wintering regions.
Migrant birds avoid equatorial forests where productivity is constant throughout the year, and food
surpluses do not occur. They do congregate, on the other hand, in savannas where productivity
varies with the seasons.

Such a coordinated sequence is particularly apparent in the case of birds migrating from the
northern Arctic regions to tropical winter regions; both life zones are characterized by broad
fluctuations in productivity. In the Arctic, vegetal and animal production is very high during the
summer; ducks and waders nest in great numbers, exploiting these resources. As winter comes,
food becomes scarce, and water birds migrate to the tropics, where the rainy season has caused
food production to increase to optimal levels. Ducks and wading birds concentrate in the most
favorable areas, remaining until spring when productivity is lowest. By then the condition of
breeding areas is again favorable for the birds. The life cycles of these birds are closely attuned
with the cycles of their various habitats, and the sizes of bird populations are controlled by the
capacity of both areas to sustain them.

Migration, then, has considerable ecological significance. It enables fast-moving animals to exploit
fluctuating resources and to settle in areas where life would not be tenable for animals incapable
of rapid travel. On the other hand, peaks of food production would be unexploited without the
periodic presence of migratory populations.
References:

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