This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Some travelers take the scenic route. Others step on the gas and head straight for the destination.
New research suggests southern right whales do much the same when crossing the Southern Ocean. Scientists from the University of Auckland and international partners tracked 21 southern right whales, or tohorā, from their winter home in New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands/Maungahuka to feeding grounds south of Australia. The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
About half the whales took a direct route westward. The others headed much farther south before turning north again, creating a giant L-shaped journey across the ocean. Despite these different travel styles, both groups reached their feeding grounds at roughly the same time.
The whales taking the longer route left about a month earlier and traveled more slowly, while the late starters took the shorter path and moved a little faster. The mean travel time was 64 days for the long trip, 42 days for the short one. Lead author Leena Riekkola says the findings suggest whales may be balancing different priorities, much as people do on a road trip.
Some may be conserving energy, while others appear to be making up for lost time. The whales also show flexibility in their behavior. One year, a female might delay migration to allow her calf to grow bigger, taking the shorter route, but the next year, when traveling alone, take the longer route.
The study also hints that whales may navigate using a mix of natural signposts. Their movements lined up with major ocean currents, underwater features and even subtle variations in Earth's magnetic field. Rather than relying on a single cue, the giant mammals seem to use several clues to find their way across thousands of kilometers of open ocean.
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