A Thermodynamic Answer to Why Birds Migrate
New modeling studies suggest that birds migrate to strike a favorable balance between their input and output of energy.
Art for "A Thermodynamic Answer to Why Birds Migrate"
Aditya Saxena
Jordana Cepelewicz
Staff Writer
May 7, 2018
Every year, flocks of tiny white birds embark on an arduous, zigzagging journey from Greenland to Antarctica and then back again, flying more than 44,000 miles. In its lifetime, each of these arctic terns covers a distance equivalent to three or four round trips to the moon. Meanwhile, the dusky grouse, which lives at the edges of forests in mountainous regions of North America, travels but a fraction of a mile between its breeding grounds and its regular habitat. The great majority of bird species don’t migrate at all.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-thermodynamic-answer-to-why-birds-migrate-20180507/
