Name: animal migration: triggers and navigation
Uploaded: 2025-10-23T11:49:00.000Z
Duration: 53 s
Channel: JoVE

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Earth and Space Science

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3.3.9-12.O

Migration

Migration is an adaptive response that corresponds with changes in an organism's resources.

For instance, during a prolonged dry season when water becomes scarce for several months, African elephants must roam long distances in search of the massive amounts of food and water they need to survive.

Depending on the environmental circumstances, family groups often separate from the much larger herd to efficiently navigate the limited supplies along the route.

In this case, a dominate female leads at the front line, and another one guards at the rear of the pack to protect and supervise their young.

When the rainy season returns, the elephants can revert to their original regions to graze on the now lush vegetation that the rain regenerated.

migration

Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism&#8217;s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.

<h4>Why Animals Migrate</h4>

For many migratory species, food resources are a major driving force behind the migratory movement. The Mexican long-nosed bat is a nectarivore that feeds on the flowers of plants (including agave) and undertakes seasonal migration tied to food availability, which varies seasonally.

Outside of the relatively stable climates of the tropics and subtropics, resource-based migration may also be tightly linked to climate. For example, beginning in early fall, Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada and the northern United States to the forests of Mexico to overwinter. This is linked to the seasonal availability of their host plant, milkweed, but also intrinsically to climate, as the butterflies would be unable to survive in the low temperatures of winter in higher latitudes.

Additionally, animals may undertake migrations to breed or produce young. Adult Atlantic horseshoe crabs inhabit the East Coast of the United States, and migrate to shallower waters each spring to mate and lay eggs in protected sandy shores and bays. Salmon also famously undertake lengthy and dangerous migrations to reach their spawning grounds.

<h4>How Animals Migrate</h4>

Migration can be obligate or facultative. In obligate migrations, individuals must migrate. In facultative migrations, individuals can choose to migrate. Obligate migrations are often complete migrations, in which all of the individuals in the population participate. However, migrations can also be partial, with only a fraction of the population migrating. Some individuals or groups within a population may also migrate farther than others, which is known as differential migration. For example, dark-eyed juncos migrate different distances into the overwintering grounds based on sex, with females tending to travel farther south than males.

Timing and cues that animals use for migration vary widely but can include factors like day length (photoperiod), resource levels, or temperature. Animals that migrate can also navigate in different ways, potentially using geographical, chemical, or even magnetic cues. Pigeons, for example, use magnetoreception to navigate.

Finally, some species undertake migrations in large or small groups, like geese, whereas others may migrate alone, like the Swainson&#8217;s Thrush. In some instances, animals complete their migrations over multiple generations, so that no single individual makes the entire trip. For example, the complete migration cycle of monarch butterflies takes around four generations.

Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the ...

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KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

animal migration: triggers and navigation

Animal migration is the long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. Many organisms use this strategy to respond to changes in climate or resource availability. Migrations can involve thousands of animals moving together or a single individual traveling alone. They can also be very different in scale, from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.

Food is a major reason many species migrate. The Mexican long-nosed bat feeds on nectar from flowers, including agave, and its seasonal movement follows changes in food supply. In places outside the stable climates of the tropics and subtropics, this kind of resource-based migration is often linked to climate as well. Monarch butterflies begin their fall migration from Canada and the northern United States to forests in Mexico because milkweed becomes less available and because they cannot survive the winter cold in higher latitudes.

Animals may also migrate to breed or produce young. Adult Atlantic horseshoe crabs move into shallower waters each spring to mate and lay eggs in protected sandy shores and bays. Salmon are another well-known example. They make long and dangerous migrations to reach their spawning grounds.

Migration can be obligate or facultative. In obligate migration, individuals must migrate. In facultative migration, individuals can choose whether to migrate. Some migrations are complete, which means every individual in the population takes part. Others are partial, with only some individuals moving. A population can also show differential migration, where different groups travel different distances. Dark-eyed juncos show this pattern because females tend to migrate farther south than males during the winter.

Animals use different cues to decide when to migrate. These cues can include day length, resource levels, and temperature. They also use different ways to navigate. Some rely on geographical, chemical, or magnetic cues. Pigeons, for example, use magnetoreception, which is sensing magnetic fields, to find their way.

Migration can happen in groups or alone. Geese often travel together, while the Swainson’s thrush can migrate on its own. In some species, the trip is completed over multiple generations, so one individual does not make the whole journey. Monarch butterflies are a clear example, because their full migration cycle takes about four generations.

Animal Migration: Triggers and Navigation

types of behavior

How Animals Act and Adapt

Animal behavior is the set of actions an organism performs. These actions can help it find food, reproduce, defend against threats, and carry out many other tasks. Behavior can also include movement in the environment, such as migration, and social interactions within a species or population. Many behaviors involve motor output. Motor output means muscle movement. Other behaviors are less visible. Learning is one example of a behavior that does not always show up as an obvious physical action.<br...

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Stickleback Courtship and Attack Signals

A fixed action pattern is a hard-wired behavior sequence that starts when an animal detects a sign stimulus. The behavior is fixed because it stays the same across individuals of a species. It is innate, so the animal is born with the ability to do it and does not need to learn it. Nikolaas Tinbergen described a classic fixed action pattern in three-spined stickleback fish in the 1930s. During breeding season, male sticklebacks develop a red throat and belly and build a nest. They use a...

imprinting

Imprinting and Early Animal Bonding

Imprinting is a form of early animal bonding seen in some newborn animals. It happens after brief exposure soon after birth or hatching. During this time, young animals form a strong and specific attachment to another animal, usually a parent. This early window is called the critical period. Once imprinting happens, the bond is usually long-lasting. In many cases, the young animal will keep that attachment even after the critical period ends. Imprinting helps animals survive. Mother sheep can...

communication

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Animal communication happens when one animal sends a signal that changes the behavior of another animal. These signals help organisms survive, grow, and reproduce. They can be auditory, chemical, visual, tactile, or a mix of these forms. Visual communication is common in many animals. It can help attract a mate, as seen in the elaborate dances of the bird-of-paradise. It can also warn others, like the bared teeth of a wolf or the bright aposematic coloration of a banded sea krait, which is a...

Animal migration is the long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. Many organisms use this strategy to respond to changes in climate or resource availability. Migrations can involve thousands of animals moving together or a single individual traveling alone. They can also be very different in scale, from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters. Food is a major reason many species migrate. The Mexican long-nosed bat feeds on nectar from flowers, including...

optimal foraging

Foraging Trade-offs in Animals

Foraging trade-offs shape how animals find and use food. Foraging behavior includes searching for plants and hunting prey, and it varies with the species and the environment. Optimal foraging theory says natural selection favors strategies that balance the benefits of food, such as energy and nutrients, against the costs of getting it, such as energy use and the risk of predation. Crows show how this balance can work in real life. Northwestern crows eat whelks, which are sea snails with hard...

mate choice

Sexual Selection in Mate Choice

Mate choice is a form of sexual selection in which animals choose partners based on traits that can affect reproduction. It is also called intersexual selection because it happens between the sexes. In many species, one sex is choosy, and it is often the female. Choosy animals may select mates by looking at appearance or behavior. They often prefer showier males with brighter coloration, more elaborate ornamentation, like a peacock’s tail, or more complex songs and courtship displays. These...

parental care

How Animals Care for Their Young

Parental care is the behavior animals use to feed, groom, and protect their young. It is common in mammals and birds, which often have offspring that are born relatively helpless. Some insects, fish, and amphibians also show this kind of care. In birds, parental care can begin before hatching. Parents sit on eggs to incubate them, which helps the embryos develop. After the chicks hatch, the parents bring food and may brood the young to keep them warm. Depending on the species, both the male...

altruism

Altruism in Animal Groups

Altruism in animal groups is unselfish behavior that helps another individual at a cost to the animal doing it. These acts can look risky or even harmful in the short term. Still, they can persist because they often benefit related animals or bring later rewards. One major reason altruism evolves is kin selection, which means helping relatives can protect shared genes. This is seen in eusocial colonies such as bees and naked mole rats, where one reproductive female, the queen, is supported by...

inclusive fitness

How Kin Selection Spreads Helpful Traits

Inclusive fitness explains why animals may help relatives even at a personal cost. It describes how an individual can pass on genes through its own offspring and through the offspring of close relatives that share those genes. When help increases a relative’s reproductive success, the helper’s inclusive fitness can also rise. A clear example appears in eusocial animals such as bees and naked mole rats. These species live in colonies with one reproductively capable female, called the queen. The...

key terms and concepts

Learn how animals migrate, why they move seasonally, and how cues like day length, temperature, and magnetoreception help guide their journeys.

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Animal Migration: Triggers and Navigation

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