52.3k views
21 votes
What are the methods believed to be used by migrating ani-
mals to maintain their orientation?

User Donentolon
by
3.6k points

1 Answer

6 votes

Answer:

Migrants often return to breed in the exact locality where they were hatched or born. This journey homeward, particularly that of birds, may cover thousands of miles.

Homing experiments have demonstrated the ability of animals to orient themselves geographically. Such experiments involve removing animals from a specific point (usually the nest), transporting them for various distances, and analyzing their speed and degree of success in returning. Starlings have returned to their nests after being transported 800 kilometres (500 miles); swallows have returned a distance of more than 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles). A Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) returned from Massachusetts to Britain, 4,900 kilometres (3,050 miles) across the Atlantic, in 12 1/2 days. Laysan albatrosses (Diomedea immutabilis) returned to Midway Island in the Pacific after being released at Whidbey Island, Washington; the journey covered 5,100 kilometres (3,200 miles) and took 10.1 days. Experiments with certain fishes and mammals have demonstrated similar homing ability.

Step-by-step explanation:

User Benjamin Sullivan
by
3.3k points