Long-distance flights can throw seabirds' internal clocks out of sync, causing navigation errors
A study led by Oxford University has found that seabirds flying long distances across the Atlantic can experience a mismatch between their internal body clocks and local time (the same process that leads to jet lag in humans), causing them to make predictable errors when navigating by the sun. The results have been published in the journal Science.
A study by Oxford University has revealed that long-distance flights by seabirds can disrupt their internal body clocks, leading to navigation errors similar to human jet lag. Published in the journal Science, the research analyzed 20 years of GPS data from 1,045 Manx shearwaters, birds that breed on islands off the coasts of the U.K. and Ireland and travel hundreds of kilometers out to sea foraging.
When these birds fly eastward rapidly across lines of longitude during the day, their internal clocks may fall behind local solar time, causing them to misjudge the sun's position and deviate from their intended course. Researchers found that these navigational errors persisted even when the birds flew near visible coastlines, suggesting they relied heavily on their sun compass.
While the errors were minor, with an average of 7° deviation, they could still result in additional travel of up to 5 km (3.1 miles) for birds returning long distances. The findings highlight the potential implications of such time shifts on other migrating animals and raise questions about the effects on their health and behavior, drawing parallels to human jet lag.
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