One of the great mysteries of animal behavior is how migratory animals can navigate in the open ocean, where there are no visual landmarks. The most difficult part of open-sea navigation is determining longitude or east-west position. It took human navigators centuries to figure out how to determine longitude on their long-distance voyages. It appears that the turtles pick up on magnetic signatures that vary across Earth's surface in order to determine their position, both east-west and north-south, and steer themselves in the right direction. Understanding what turtles rely on to guide their migrations is an important part of protecting their environment.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110224121855.htm
I'm glad for the turtles, they always seemed so helpless...it's great to see that these poor sea creatures are good at something!
ReplyDeleteI know from experience how hard it is for baby turtles to reach the ocean. I wonder if, at night, they also use what their parents and cousins use to travel and migrate to reach the safety of the ocean. Sea turtles are amazing creatures, but this is very interesting because it explains how some of the ocean life works. It reminds me of Finding Nemo, when the turtles use currents to take them to where they want to be, traveling as a team. Perhaps there is more to disney movies, even truth in things that deal with nature!
ReplyDeleteThat is seriously one of the coolest things i have ever heard.
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty cool. All you usually hear about sea turtles is how they are always getting hurt or killed and how their numbers are declining. This is pretty cool though, at least we know more about how sea turtles migrate.
ReplyDeleteI love sea turtles! This is really cool how people find out these kind of things. I'm sure that there will be a movie coming out about the life of a sea turtle like March of the Penguins. Animals are so smart and they can amaze us sometimes.
ReplyDeleteSea turtles are so cool, and its really interesting that they can do this. Stuff like this is what makes them so neat. It amazes me that they can do something like this.
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