The mystery of the migration of birds and insects

Every fall, cranes flock to the South in a serious line. By the spring of the following year, they would return to their old places on the right path. Nh

Migratory birds (Photo: arthurgrosset)

Such trips are called seasonal migration. This habit in birds, called migratory birds (migratory), like cranes, swallows . Migration time and routes are almost unchanged, even with birds that return to the right "house "Its old, and so on, the other lives in that " family church " .

In addition to seasonal migratory birds, insects also have such habits. America has very beautiful monarch butterfly, in the fall, they pull the herd from North America to South America more than 3000 km away. They dwell in the mountains of Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas Islands, and southern California. By the spring of the following year, they would fly back to the North. On the way back, they gave birth to their babies, then died along the road. The next generation migrated south. That life follows the other life.

Why do birds and seasonal migration insects have such habits? What are they oriented by? It is hard to understand, short flights can also be guided by eyes, long flights cannot rely on the eyes to navigate.

It is speculated that birds can use the Sun position as a compass. If so, they must know the error correction due to the position shift of the Sun. Scientists believe that the bird's body has a mechanism like an animal clock that accurately captures the position of the Sun. But how do you do without the sun at night? One can only guess that, they are oriented with stars. However, on nights without stars, they still fly in the right direction. So, what exactly is it, do they orient by magnetic field, by deflection, by pressure and taste?

As for butterflies, it is thought to be related to genetics. The work of studying seasonal migratory butterflies has just begun, there will certainly be more interesting discoveries.