Jill's Pick from Around the World: World's Longest Migration is 2X Longer Than Thought
An Arctic tern flies over Sand Island, Greenland, in an undated picture.
Photo credit: National Geographic
Red Knots have a legendary migration from Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America, to the Arctic with a stop-over in Delaware Bay. Their migration route, which is estimated to be around 20,000 miles, is only half the distance that the artic tern travels. The tiny arctic tern makes the longest migration of any animal in the world, flying about two times farther than previously thought, a new study says. Miniature new transmitters recently revealed that the 4-ounce (113-gram) bird follows zigzagging routes between Greenland and Antarctica each year. In the process, the arctic tern racks up about 44,000 frequent flier miles (71,000 kilometers)—edging out its archrival, the sooty shearwater, by roughly 4,000 miles (6,440 kilometers).
To view previous Jill's Pick from Around the World stories follow these links:
- Sharks Killed for Oil Used in Swine Flu Vaccine
- Australia's koalas facing AIDS-like disease
- "Bizarre" Octopuses Carry Coconuts as Instant Shelters
- Bird "sings" through feathers
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 1/27/2010 11:00 AM 
Categories: Birds, Jill's Pick from Around the World
Tags: 44000 miles arctic tern migration greenland antartica
Categories: Birds, Jill's Pick from Around the World
Tags: 44000 miles arctic tern migration greenland antartica
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