How much do you know about animal migration?

Animal Migration: A Seasonal Movement of Animals

• Animal migration is the long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis, and is found in all major animal groups.
• To be counted as a true migration, the movement of the animals should be an annual or seasonal occurrence, or a major habitat change as part of their life, and some traditional forms of human migration fit this pattern.
• Migrations can be studied using traditional identification tags such as bird rings or tracked directly with electronic tracking devices.
• Migration can take very different forms in different species, and has a variety of causes, but there is no simple accepted definition of migration.
• Approximately 1,800 of the world's 10,000 bird species migrate long distances each year, with the Arctic tern having the longest migration journey of any bird.
• Most fish species are relatively limited in their movements, remaining in a single geographical area and making short migrations to overwinter, to spawn, or to feed, but about 120 species of fish migrate between saltwater and freshwater.
• Some mammals undertake exceptional migrations; reindeer have one of the longest terrestrial migrations on the planet, reaching as much as 4,868 kilometers per year in North America.
• Among the reptiles, adult sea turtles migrate long distances to breed, as do some amphibians.
• Scientists gather observations of animal migration by tracking their movements using electronic devices such as radio-tracking collars or GPS animal tracking.
• Before animal migration was understood, various folklore and erroneous explanations were formulated to account for the disappearance or sudden arrival of birds in an area.
• The most common forms of animal migration are seasonal, circadian, tidal, and diel.
• Tidal migration is the use of tides by organisms to move periodically from one habitat to another, while diel migration is the daily movement of animals.