Animal Migration
Know that many animals make incredible journeys called migrations, Arctic terns fly from pole to pole, monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles across North America, wildebeest cross the Serengeti following rain, and humpback whales swim between polar feeding grounds and tropical breeding waters. These journeys are linked to food, breeding, and seasons
What a learner can do afterwards
- Defines migration as a regular long journey animals make
- Names at least 3 migratory animals with their routes or destinations
- Explains that migration is driven by food availability, breeding, or seasonal changes
1 · Read
Migration is a long journey that an animal makes again and again, often at the same time every year. Birds, whales, butterflies, and even the wildebeest herds you just read about on the savanna migrate.
Every fall, monarch butterflies leave Canada and the United States and fly thousands of miles to warm forests in Mexico. When spring comes, they fly north again. That whole round trip is a migration.
Wildebeest herds walk after rain, because rain grows fresh grass. Whales swim from cold feeding seas to warm seas where calves are born safe. Terns and monarchs fly. Animals migrate to find food, keep babies safe, or follow the seasons.
Animals migrate for real reasons: to find food, to have their babies somewhere safe, or because the weather is about to change. Look for those three reasons and you can guess why almost any animal migrates.
Migration is a repeated long journey, and animals make it to find food, raise their young safely, or follow the changing seasons.
More to read
Canada Goose Migration
Look up in autumn and you may see long lines of geese honking across the sky. Canada geese fly south before winter comes. They head for warmer lakes and fields where water stays open and food is easy to find. In spring they fly north again to nest and raise chicks.
Geese often fly in a V shape. Each bird saves energy by riding the air pushed aside by the one ahead. When the leader gets tired, another goose takes its place. Flying together makes the long trip possible.
Explore the Salish Sea - Unit 7: Migration
Pacific salmon make one of the bravest trips on Earth. They hatch in rivers, swim out to the ocean to grow big, then return to the very same river to lay their eggs. They push up rapids and leap over falls to get home. Nothing stops them for long.
Salmon do not just feed themselves. Bears, eagles, and even forest trees depend on them. When salmon die after spawning, their bodies feed the woods. Migration moves food from the sea into the land.
Bison or Buffalo? Which is the Correct Name
Long ago, giant wild cattle crossed a land bridge from Asia into North America. Their young became the bison we know today. Huge herds once roamed the plains, always on the move. They followed fresh grass as the seasons changed, seeking green fields spring after spring.
Moving kept the herds fed and healthy. New grass grew back where they had grazed. Wolves followed the herds too. Migration shaped the whole plains, from grass to bison to wolf.
2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Optional connections
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.