14 of the Greatest Animal Migrations

Massive animal migrations are among nature's most inspiring events. Whether by wing, fin, or hoof, the distance some creatures travel to search for new habitats is paralleled only by the trials they endure to survive.

Migrations also play a vital role in our natural ecosystems—they're the veins and arteries of our Earth—and a reminder that the world's habitats are interconnected. Here's a list of the planet's greatest migrations.

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Sea Turtles

Sea turtles are charismatic ocean wanderers that make incredible open sea migrations to feed, mature, and lay eggs.

Scientists have recorded some leatherback turtles traveling across the Pacific Ocean between Indonesia and the west coast of the United States and Canada, crossing more than 10,000 miles on their journey. One of their most impressive feats is navigating back to the beach where they were born so they can spawn. A loggerhead sea turtle named Yoshi swam 22,000 miles over two years. Two Oceans Aquarium staff released Yoshi after a 20-year residency (Yoshi originally went to the aquarium because of a cracked shell).

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Baleen Whales

Gray whale breaching off the Oregon coast — Merrill Gosho, NOAA / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

While many of the world's marine mammals migrate, none go the distance like giant baleen whales. One species of baleen whale, the gray whale, makes a 10,000- to 14,000-mile round trip on its annual migratory journey.

Each baleen whale species travels to warmer tropical waters during the winter months to mate and give birth. Then the whales swim to the rich colder waters of the Arctic or Antarctic to feed for the summer. Climate change and warmer surface temperatures have altered the timing of that migration, and it may not be sustainable.

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Dragonflies

dragonfly perched on broken plant stalk — abhijit hira / Shutterstock

Dragonflies are capable of long-distance migrations, but until 2009 scientists had no idea how far they traveled. Scientists discovered a 14,000- to 18,000-kilometer dragonfly migration route that spanned from India to the Maldives, Seychelles, Mozambique, and Uganda, and back again. One tiny dragonfly species has a flying range of 4,400 miles or more over open ocean waters.

Incredibly, the epic migration spans four generations of dragonflies, with each generation playing its part in the journey, much like a relay race; it's easily the longest insect migration ever discovered. The dragonflies appear to follow the rains, from the monsoon season in India to the rainy season in eastern and southern Africa.

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Wildebeest

Africa's wildebeest herds travel annually by the millions in search of greener pastures; this is perhaps the most visible animal migration. Known as the Great Migration, millions of wildebeests suddenly start migrating at the same time each year, moving from the southern part of Tanzania's Serengeti Desert up and around to Masai Mara in Kenya, then back again.

The migration is one of nature's grandest spectacles, as the herds cross crocodile-infested rivers while lions prowl in the tall grass nearby. Over 250,000 wildebeests fall victim to hungry predators and the other perils of migratory travel, such as drowning, starvation, and disease, along the way.

Africa's vast savanna couldn't exist without the migration, and maintaining these habitat corridors is essential to the survival of this area and its creatures.

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Birds

About 4,000 species of birds are regular migrators. Some of these avian creatures' journeys are among the longest in the world, and the birds are always in pursuit of either food or nesting locations.

The tiny Arctic tern makes the world's longest migration annually as it zigzags 55,923 miles between the Arctic and Antarctic. An honorable mention goes to the sooty sheerwater for making a similar journey. Bar-tailed godwits undertake the longest nonstop flight of any bird—6,835 miles in nine days—between New Zealand and China.

Penguins also migrate, sometimes due to the effects of climate change. They deserve credit for making their journey through the ocean and by foot instead of by air. Adélie penguins make the longest migrations, with one penguin migrating more than 10,936 miles, according to researchers using tracking devices.

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Monarch Butterflies

The annual monarch butterfly migration spans 3,000 miles and might be the most colorful migration in the natural world. The farthest-tracked monarch flew 265 miles in one day. The monarch migration includes three to four generations and occasionally crosses the Atlantic Ocean. It typically consists of monarchs moving from northern parts of North America to Mexico or California.

Monarchs also live in Australia and New Zealand, where they are called wanderer butterflies.

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Caribou

North America's caribou populations migrate the farthest of any terrestrial mammal, a journey that can span more than 838 miles annually. This distance is significantly lower than the 3,000-mile distance scientists used in the past. Part of that reduction is due to improved data from GPS tracking, and unfortunately, the rest is due to climate change, which is also changing the timing of migration.

Herds of the migrating animals can grow to impressive numbers—with 197,000 members of the Porcupine caribou herd—rivaled only by Africa's great wildebeest migrations. During the winter, caribou travel to forested areas for easier foraging, and they migrate in the summer to superior calving grounds.

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Salmon

Salmon impressively travel hundreds of miles in inland freshwaters and up to 1,000 miles in the ocean during their migration to feeding grounds. On their return to their breeding grounds, they will even ascend thousands of feet up mountain streams. It may seem like an extreme journey, but they do it because they know they'll find the right species to mate with and that a particular river has already proven successful for spawning.

The salmon do all of that navigation primarily by using the earth's magnetic field as a compass. When they get close to spawning areas, they use their sense of smell to find their way home. "Young salmon learn the smell of their home stream, possibly even memorizing it at various points along the way, as they migrate toward the ocean."

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Zooplankton

Zooplankton, organisms such as diatoms and krill that float in the ocean column, seem like unlikely migratory animals. Their migration is different because it moves up and down through the ocean's depths rather than traversing a landscape, although they can do this, too. The movement of zooplankton, known as "diel vertical migration", rivals the seasonal migration of more famous migratory species such as caribou or Arctic tern.

Despite their tiny size, some zooplankton swarms swim a vertical distance of 3,000 feet nearly every day in their continual search for food. It's described as possibly being "the largest natural daily movement of biomass on the planet (human commuters may exceed it)."

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Bats

Although not all bat species are migratory, the ones that travel seasonally do so in spectacular fashion. The world's most massive mammal migration is the annual journey of Zambia's straw-colored fruit bats.

An astounding 10 million bats blanket the air during the migration, as they travel to Kasanka National Park to feed on their favorite fruits in the mushitu swamp forest. These fruits emerge after the first rains and the bats will eat up to twice their body weight every night. It gives them energy to continue their migrations across Africa and is especially helpful to pregnant mothers.

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Christmas Island Red Crabs

hundreds of red crabs climbing up a rock from water during migration. Red Crab Migration on Christmas Island — James D. Morgan / Getty Images

One of the most incredible migrations is the seasonal movement of the red crab across Australia's Christmas Island.

Tens of millions of red crabs call this remote island home, and every year they transform the island into a vast moving red carpet as they move en masse to the ocean to lay their eggs.

During periods of peak migration, Christmas Island's roads often must be closed as the crabs blanket the landscape. Scientists have recently discovered that hormonal changes cue the crabs to undertake their arduous journey. It usually coincides with the first rain of the wet season, in October or November.

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Sharks

Some shark species travel thousands of miles through open water every year, scouring the ocean for food. Other sharks have a daily vertical migration from deeper water to shallower water in search of food or to warm up.

The great white shark is a long-distance traveler, with some making the journey across the Indian Ocean between South Africa and Australia and back again in a single year.

The larger but more gentle whale shark is another known migrant, with one undertaking a 12,000-mile migration. The migration of the endangered whale shark between the Eastern Pacific and Western Indo-Pacific makes conservation activities more complicated as more jurisdictions are involved.

Other migratory sharks are giving up annual migrations as the water stays warm due to climate change.

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Tuna

Tuna are among the ocean's fastest-swimming migratory fish. They swim across such large distances, including between oceans, that fishing regulations have failed to adequately protect them from overfishing. The IUCN lists Atlantic bluefin tuna as least concern, southern bluefin as endangered, albacore as least concern, and Pacific bluefin as near threatened. Skipjack tuna has a stable population. Pacific bluefin will make the 5,000-mile trip between spawning grounds in Japan and California multiple times throughout their lives.

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Seals

Seals migrate long distances to find food. Fur seals swim the equivalent of a quarter of the way around the world every year. Bull elephant seals make an annual migratory journey of at least 13,000 miles and spend about 250 days during that time at sea. Females spend an incredible 300 days at sea each year. Elephant seals have two separate annual migrations: one after breeding season and one after molting season.

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