Amazing nature: Birds travel to faraway places using an “invisible map”
Recommended for Secondary Grades
Amazing nature
A while ago, we read about a bird’s 12,000 km journey from Alaska in the US to New Zealand. It set a new world record for the longest non-stop flight by a bird.
Every year, billions of songbirds travel thousands of kilometres between Europe and Africa. But they always go to the same place that they chose on their first journey.
How can they do this? After all, they have to travel over oceans, deserts and face bad weather. And unlike humans, they cannot use smartphones or GPS.
A new study says that birds have a remarkable ability that involves “an invisible magnetic map”. It works like our human system of GPS.
What is GPS?
Global Positioning System or GPS is a satellite system that helps us know exactly where we are.
Scientists studied Eurasian reed warbler birds for this study. It indicates that birds use Earth’s magnetic field to guide them to where they need to go.
Amazing nature
Earth’s magnetic field’s intensity changes over different areas. This can tell the birds in which direction they are headed. However, scientists are still unsure which organ birds use to sense Earth’s magnetic field.
Additionally, other birds, including seabirds and homing pigeons also travel using scents and smells to find direction.
Amazing nature
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