Animal Migration Routes Maintained by Knowledge of Informed Elders

[n2doc]

A new model of animal migration patterns suggests that an entire migratory route can be changed if just a few so-called "informed individuals" are removed from the larger group.

A team of European researchers report that a migratory route can disappear completely if enough informed individuals are removed.

Using bluefin tuna in Norway as a base, the researchers modeled the migration of bluefin through the region. Until the 1950s the region was saturated with bluefin tuna as they migrated through the waters there each year. The predictable presence of the fish supported a thriving fishing industry. But suddenly, over the course of just 4 or 5 years, the fish stopped migrating through the region.

This sudden erasure of a migratory route was the inspiration for the new migration model, which was developed by Giancarlo De Luca from the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste (SISSA) and an international team of researchers from the Centre for Theoretical Physics of Trieste and the Technical University of Denmark.

more
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/6399/20140320/animal-migration-routes-maintained-by-knowledge-of-informed-elders.htm

[catbyte]

1. There's so much we don't know about animals. We are so arrogantly ignorant.