Birds Get Wiser With Age

Birds Get Wiser With Age,

Demonstrating Improved Decision Making

“In general, I’ve always wondered what birds’ issue is and why they need to migrate such absurd distances, and then I read about the arctic tern and found this: Arctic terns are true champions in the bird world. They fly about 11,000 miles from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to their winter home in Antarctica. Champions? Champions of what—horrible decision-making? The North Pole is 6,000 miles away from the equator. Every climate possible exists in between. Whatever climate difference they’re finding on the other pole could be achieved by flying 1,000 miles of latitude away from the pole.”

         Thus begins a small rant of Tim Urban (the genius behind waitbutwhy.com) (if I’ve just introduced that treasure trove of blog posts to you, I’m sorry!) about the bizarre migration choices of certain birds. It’s definitely confusing why animals go to such lengths to reach breeding grounds. Salmon and trout swim agonizingly upstream to reach quiet patches of water where they can lay eggs. In the White Mountains of New Hampshire, I’ve even seen trout that jump across rocky crevasses to reach stiller water.

         However, there is good news for Tim Urban’s query, thanks to the Good News Network. As birds get older, they reduce the distances they travel when migrating. According to researchers who observed white storks in Germany and Austria, the smarter, older birds took shortcuts and traveled cumulatively shorter distances while younger, less experienced birds explored more.

What a hopeful message. With Age Comes Wisdom! 🦤