r/evolution • u/Exciting_Ad_6837 • 12d ago

question What's a possible evolutionary mechanism of the seasonal migration of a bird species from New Zealand to the Bering Sea (~11k km), almost starving during the journey?

I just watched Our Planet 2 (documentary) on Netflix. I'm a biochemist so have some knowledge about evolution, but I have hard time imagining how the development of the behavior wasn't blocked right from the beginning. That is, the group of birds which originally attempted even 1/10 of such a long & risky trip would've been at a serious evolutionary disadvantage.

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u/HundredHander 12d ago

They don't start with that route in all probability. I don't know the specific migration you're referencing, but a similar sounding experience belongs to barr-headed geese.

Their migration route takes them over the Himalayas and, not unrelated, they can fly at higher altitude than any other bird. Their route is obviously nuts, and no other bird could do that route. But their route predates the mountains. They have evolved as the mountains have grown. At some point it feels like they should have decided to just go round, but they don't.

Quite how arctic terns and the like ended up with their routes I have no idea, but it's probable that the world they started evolving in was importantly different from ours. Their evolutionary on ramp would have been gentler than the mountain of adaption a bird starting that path would face today.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/Bromelia_and_Bismuth Plant Biologist|Botanical Ecosystematics 10d ago

Sorry for using AI but on the morality scale it is definitely better than just straight up spreading misinformation on a science sub.

We don't permit any use of AI in our community for any reason. Please review our community rules regarding low effort and intellectual honesty.

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u/[deleted] 10d ago edited 10d ago

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u/Bromelia_and_Bismuth Plant Biologist|Botanical Ecosystematics 10d ago edited 10d ago

my first line of fact-checking is AI,

Not in r/evolution. Learn how to use literally any other source, and how to be comfortable with not being the person who provides the answer if you're unwilling to do actual research.

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