Migration Patterns and How Animals Navigate Long Distances

Every year animals travel across long distances because they need to find resources to survive and breed while avoiding tough weather conditions. Animals across different species depend on migration to live as birds fly lengthy distances and whales swim between ocean regions. Animals stick to specific periods when they move toward warmer climates during colder months to come back later for their breeding season. Arctic terns make the world's longest bird migration when they travel every year between Arctic and Antarctic regions. The wildebeest population of Africa wanders through Serengeti in search of better food pastures, while monarch butterflies cross from North America to Mexico with generations of their kind. Animals depend on many different ways to orient themselves and move toward their destinations. Birds use the Earth's magnetic field together with the location of stars and sun to navigate and they sense scents. Sea turtles travel using ocean drifts and magnetic fields, but insects depend on polarized sunlight for navigation. Despite showing strong resilience, migratory animals fight many dangers, which include loss of living spaces, climate change, and human-built barriers. To maintain habitat health and migration pathways we need to protect these species to keep ecosystems balanced.