The World's Longest Non-Stop Flight

Рет қаралды 97,618

Жыл бұрын

The bar-tailed godwit makes the longest nonstop flight of any bird: From Alaska to New Zealand. And they have to shrink their organs to do it.
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Sources:
journals.plos.org/plosbiology...
www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/sc...
www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/sa...
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...
www.iucnredlist.org/species/2...
www.iucnredlist.org/species/2...
ebird.org/species/batgod
www.researchgate.net/profile/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/a...
ebird.org/species/batgod1
www.iowadnr.gov/About-DNR/DNR...
pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/...
academic.oup.com/auk/article/...
www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
asknature.org/strategy/organ-...
www.nature.com/articles/ncomm...
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Images:
www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
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• 5.10.11 Barge rousse (...
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• Meet the Locals: Godwi...
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bit.ly/3zGAlnL
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• Pfuhlschnepfe auf Nahr...
• Meet the Locals: Godwi...
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• Bar-tailed Godwit
www.inaturalist.org/observati...
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Пікірлер: 131

@BizarreBeasts Жыл бұрын

The new merch we hinted at is here! It is a wonderful, signed, limited edition art print by Emily Graslie! Get yours here! store.dftba.com/collections/bizarrebeasts/products/emily-graslie-print

@Tanyajenkins Жыл бұрын

And we have 1800 of these amazing Godwits in Christchurch New Zealand RIGHT NOW. Each year in early March we host a ceremony to "wish them a safe trip home in Alaska". Awesome video.

@jamesg6885 Жыл бұрын

that;s so awesome!!!! wish I could see that

@jess53nz Жыл бұрын

I'm in chch too!

@itsdragon85 11 ай бұрын

So has this been occurring your entire lifetime?

@vinayakghagare3139 3 ай бұрын

Lovely

@Neotenico Жыл бұрын

I can't imagine the complex system of biological triggers and pathways required for an animal to REABSORB ITS ORGAN TISSUES. I'm curious if that process is exclusive to just the one subspecies or if it happens for all bar-tailed godwits before migration. Because that seems like it would be a pretty dramatic genetic difference, enough to classify as a separate species (especially in the ornithology field which, from what I've learned from my uncle's work, seems to be much more gene focused when it comes to taxonomy).

@ArawnOfAnnwn Жыл бұрын

Actually lots of animals have a similar capability, including us. It's a response to starvation. Even humans who're being starved will, in the later stages, begin to absorb their own tissues to survive. We can't do it at will, but this ability of theirs could have evolved from it.

@Neotenico Жыл бұрын

@@ArawnOfAnnwn The thing is, this is a seasonal trigger. When your body is starved of nutrients and starts consuming all the amino acids and triglycerides it can find, that's one thing. But to re-rig that biological response to a temporal (or temperature) factor is just nuts to me.

@clomiancalcifer Жыл бұрын

Tissue resorption isn't that weird for birds. Most for instance resorb a large part of their reproductive systems outside of breeding season. A lot of these triggers are hormone based, with the hormones themselves being triggered for production due to external stimuli. In many passerines (song birds) and some other migratory birds, this external stimuli is solar position and day length....usually in combination with some form of polarized light detection (in others it can be nutrient threshold loads). Solar position is of course fairly constant over millennia, and more reliable than meteorological data is for determining general 'good times for arrival'...typically. But then most bird populations' responsiveness to solar input is on a normal distribution or bell-shaped curve which means there's a breadth of reactions resulting in later and earlier arrival times, thus allowing for differential success and in theory species resilience should there be some kind of localized disentanglement of solar position and seasonal meteorology. That being said as climate starts becoming increasingly chaotic, we're seeing increasing failure rates of both migrations and breeding seasons as the classic entanglements of solar constants and meteorological response well...become disentangled more frequently. Survival is thus dependent on the depth or breadth of the behavioral 'background radiation' within the normal distribution of stimuli responses....which is more assured in cases of higher diversity and population size but is not guaranteed especially in populations that have very narrow margins for error, such as some of these long distance migrants banking on small, Arctic reproductive windows....

@NijosoSefzaps Жыл бұрын

@@Neotenico It's not actually that wild, if you think about genetics as a kind of "if...then..." series of statements. Which is an oversimplification, but changing from a starvation trigger to a seasonal trigger is a much easier feat than developing a new system from scratch.

@Neotenico Жыл бұрын

@@clomiancalcifer Sorry to reply so late, but wow. Thank you for such an in-depth response and tremendous amount of information. I was unaware that avian evolution was so deeply tied to solar position. Considering the most stable system on our planet is its own orbit, I'm kind of embarrassed I couldn't deduce that it would be such a powerful driving force for adaptation. Your comments on climate change, its role in desynchronizing the solar/meteorological status quo, and the subsequent impact on species that depend upon that status quo for biological triggers makes a lot of sense as well. Yet another example of the unfortunate fragility of evolutionary specialists.

@krisjonesuk Жыл бұрын

I live close to an estuary on the east coast of England. We get many Bar-tailed Godwits on the river here from October till early April. Once they develop their summer plumage they migrate. A local ornithologist recently identified one that had been ringed in Iceland 19 years ago!

@celerystox Жыл бұрын

Did anyone else think Hank said the "Great Frigginbird"? 🤣

@RedHair651 Жыл бұрын

I came here to say this

@mrfish.- Жыл бұрын

“Damn! Those are some great friggin birds!!”

@aimeecentaine 7 ай бұрын

I mean it's great frigate bird but sure 😂😂😂

@CoupleMoore Жыл бұрын

Well, you asked us to guess what kind of bizarre beast might be next. The bar-tailed godwit was certainly not the one I would have thought of.

@nettlesandsnakes9138 Жыл бұрын

I am Going to add a bird like this to my world, I’m working a world building project, which features a cold habitable world, and a bird like this would fit right in. This is a good Bizzarre beast!

@MyVanHaven Жыл бұрын

What a coincidence, I was just thinking of making a creature that can do this when nutrients or resources are low on a very hot, volcanic alien world, though maybe not a bird

@nettlesandsnakes9138 Жыл бұрын

@@MyVanHaven I guess you’re going to reverse them, I’m just going to have them as a little creature that has cultural importance in the main culture I’m exploring; plus I want to see how my peoples will react to them leaving and what theories they will make.

@MyVanHaven Жыл бұрын

@@nettlesandsnakes9138 one of my favourite historical theories of bird migrations was they thought the birds flew to the moon every winter

@FleshWolf Жыл бұрын

Hank Green cinematic universe

@travisbicklejr Жыл бұрын

Great video! More birds, please!

@jansenart0 Жыл бұрын

I can confidently say, as someone who can nap anywhere, that they snooze while in flight for a few seconds at a time, every few minutes.

@ali_b_lush2 Жыл бұрын

Loved this episode! One of the most astonishing ones I've seen. Thanks! ❤

@ceulgai2817 Жыл бұрын

Wow, that IS a bizarre bird! Glad to see you back, Hank, as well as normal episodes! (Not that I didn't enjoy the undersea series)

@ljphoenix4341 Жыл бұрын

Having been to Miranda Shorebird Centre, and the Firth of Thames in NZ, where a lot of the Godwits live when in New Zealand, it's a fascinating place, and the birds are amazing!

@KhalidMehmood-yt1yw 7 ай бұрын

Very beautiful all cute birds and also beautiful photography

@avifan59 Жыл бұрын

you are the coolest host! I used to use your videos to my plant science college students! Thanks :)

@johndavey9129 Жыл бұрын

Australia is a destination - not an emergency landing if blown off course from New Zealnad. Last week a Bar-tailed Godwit was identified having flown from Alaska to Tasmania - a world record distance of 13,560 klms. I live on Lake Illawarra - approx 100klms on the coast south of Sydney and I spotted my first Godwit for the summer season a fortnight ago. Otherwise - loved you post.

@fubberpish3614 Жыл бұрын

I believe it's a different subspecies that regularly migrates to Australia, rather than baueri that usually heads to New Zealand.

@sukeshkohli475 Жыл бұрын

Incredible long flight maiden journey of 13,560 Kms made by 5 months old juvenile bird. GOD is so great, when you look at these incredible birds making an impossible non-stop journey flying across the pacific non-stop day and night without navigation. Beautiful GOD and it’s creatures❤

@win9810 Жыл бұрын

nature is showing admirable, especially the migratory shorebirds are amazing. Thanks for working and sharing such a valuable information about the Bar-tailed godwit and their migration.

@emmacarter3968 Жыл бұрын

Couldn't wait for this one!

@sylvieweeks4149 Жыл бұрын

I would love episodes on the immortal jellyfish and the New Guinea singing dog!

@trishalish13 Жыл бұрын

"Think back to the longest road trip of your life" says Hank Green, whom I actually accidentally ran across in Missoula, Montana during the longest road trip of my life. 😅

@ninjaswordtothehead 11 ай бұрын

Imagine how awesome it would be to walk down to the beach, *and then fly across the ocean using your body,* just so you could chill in another country for a bit. That'd be pretty cool.

@samgibson1683 Жыл бұрын

When you said, "they do this every year" all I heard was Sid the Sloth

@matthewwelsh294 Жыл бұрын

Welcome to the Ice Age

@Hasmanian Жыл бұрын

Around Vancouver BC, the average Canada goose migrates in the neighborhood of 50 metres.

@Mike504 Жыл бұрын

Hank!!!

@vasuvinod2165 Жыл бұрын

Amazing creation and inspiration

@sonorasgirl Жыл бұрын

Love this little guy! So cool!

@samwill7259 Жыл бұрын

Me and the boys used to go absorbing our digestive organs on a roadtrip

@TheFindingNimo Жыл бұрын

This is amazing. Mind blowing 😍

@MdBiplob-po2uo 26 күн бұрын

Thank you very much😊😊😊😊

@macaroniandtuna Жыл бұрын

A good follow-on to this would be the arctic tern, with the longest migration of any animal, and as a result being the animal that sees more daylight hours than any other because they live in both Northern and Southern summers.

@KisherunoShikiShini Жыл бұрын

I like this episode's background soundtrack, very whimsical and fun

@anarchyantz1564 Жыл бұрын

Would like to know from an evolution perspective how they all "decided" to fly such a large distance and when there why not stay there?

@clomiancalcifer Жыл бұрын

Well decision is the wrong word. It was likely a gradual process of divergence between flight pathway populations, that expanded as populations optimized reproduction with risk. Arctic summers represent excessively long days, limited predators, fewer competitors, not nearly as many parasites and copious amounts of food. They don't stay there for obvious reasons that winters are harsh to say the least. Temperate and tropical environments have of food, yes but not as densely packed as the Arctic summer, have more acceptable climates year round, but do not have have the 24 hours of sunlight that the Arctic has, and also have lots more predators, competition and parasites. Whilst travelling is risky, the rewards for getting travel right are great, and whilst the rewards for staying temperate or tropical are...limited and the risk is as great or riskier, especially since many tropical and temperate niches are already quite heavily satiated...thus forcing many species into more extreme strategies to find adequate resources for reproductive success.

@lidwine006 7 ай бұрын

In the netherlands, europe, we call this bird :Grutto. This bird is the nationale bird of our country.

@michmach74 Жыл бұрын

How many science-y shows does Hank host I keep seeing him everywhere

@RedHair651 Жыл бұрын

He has people write most of these videos and a lot of them are shot in Montana, USA. That's bound to help.

@philip5940 8 ай бұрын

Let's not forget the plovers too . That china stopover is becoming a concern .

@myboy_ Жыл бұрын

Make these longer!

@ayinlaaremu159 Ай бұрын

The pin bird looks so cute

@MrAledro84 3 ай бұрын

This is one the most remarkable things I have ever heard of in my 39 goddamn years of life!

@jobriq5 Жыл бұрын

I love their silly little beaks

@halloyoutubers7047 2 ай бұрын

Ceck out the arctic stern, it flys from the northern arctic regions to Antartica and back.

@ThatJaymsWisdom Жыл бұрын

Still the best KZfaq channel... nay _video series_ on the internet.

@MyVanHaven Жыл бұрын

I hope a time when I have money to spend, coincides with a time when y'all might offer a special "every pin we've ever made" pack for limited time sale. Until then, I'll just keep aiming for being able to afford the monthly pins cos they look amazing every month.

@brendakrieger7000 Жыл бұрын

Impressive

@david-rj5yb Жыл бұрын

Godwit, what a name!

@seancourtney9021 Жыл бұрын

I may have encountered a Bar-tailed Godwit blown off course. Two weeks ago, found a dead bird in my backyard. He was a multi-brown color and had a strange long beak, not common to birds in my area, which is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I've taken pictures of him/her and plan to ask the local DNR about identification. Right now I can say it looks exactly like some of the birds pictured in this video.

@michellefarahay Жыл бұрын

I just had this happen to me in Columbus, Ohio. It was dead on the porch at work when I locked up that night. My friends called it a Woodcock. I’m trying to figure out if they’re similar? I had never seen one before and then I stumbled across this video and it looked just like the chunky ones in this video without white bellies.

@anari234 Жыл бұрын

It could have been a Sandpiper or a Dowitcher which are local to your area.

@bugguyonline Жыл бұрын

OMG NEW VID

@SerpentiCaptain 9 ай бұрын

"Depending on which ornithologist you ask." Allow me to translate for people unfamiliar with academia: The arguments are legendary. Tenured professors have been fired. At least one balding septuagenarian with a PhD has been involved in a physical altercation about how many subspecies there are.

@sineadinglis799 Күн бұрын

This is one of the many reasons why I love science 😂

@silentracer911 Жыл бұрын

You said for their winter, but technically they don’t have a winter, they have a perpetual spring, summer, fall timeline… must be nice, wish I could do that opposite and avoid the hot summer

@Batman-ub4ud Жыл бұрын

Ah the great nature always refresh my mind！

@Arnav-lp6vs Жыл бұрын

Its in fiji tooo

@stax6092 Жыл бұрын

Cool.

@alannasarafat9938 Жыл бұрын

this is how my grandparents tell me how hard the journey they must take to going to the school

@mydinosaurworld375 Жыл бұрын

Wow

@nadeemmustafa6450 6 ай бұрын

AMAZING ❤❤❤

@schlibbity Жыл бұрын

Can someone please help me understand why Hank described the open Pacific Ocean as "relatively featureless"? That seems like it might be an understatement

@andyjay729 Жыл бұрын

The avian equivalent of Singapore Airlines.

@edwardcamp3376 Жыл бұрын

But how did they ever come to do this? That's what I want to know.

@EmonEconomist Жыл бұрын

Did you say they have both a winter and a summer home? Where is their winter home?

@Troy-ol5fk Күн бұрын

Why are they standing on one leg?

@chenalindelossantos967 Жыл бұрын

so honored to have observed these amazing migrants in the Philippines ❤

@dragonharris5465 Жыл бұрын

The name “godwit” makes me think these birds are as smart as God 😂

@GuanoLad Жыл бұрын

I used to live at a river mouth on the coast of New Zealand. It was a while ago, but I do believe I saw these dudes scampering around the estuary a lot.

@franciscorosa1498 Жыл бұрын

I thought it was gonna be the artic tern lol

@bryandangol8223 2 ай бұрын

What about Albatros bird??

@BouncingTribbles Жыл бұрын

When you gotta migrate, you gotta migrate

@kyrab7914 Жыл бұрын

I wonder if the way their organs work is at all similar to how humans react to starvation. Perhaps studying them could help with our treatment of ourselves

@PureVikingPowers 8 ай бұрын

Wrong, the common swift flies ten months on end without landing even once! They spend 10 months in the air, sleeping and eating.

@evafluksa3435 Жыл бұрын

The more I learn about the curious creatures of this planet, the less All Tomorrows seems fictional to me 😂

@VyvienneEaux 11 ай бұрын

Do they not eat platyhelminths?

@personious_k Жыл бұрын

nice! i guessed right! 😁

@Gus-tw7zw Жыл бұрын

Is it bad that my first thought was how their fat content changes for their migration changes how they'd taste?

@RedHair651 Жыл бұрын

I personally think that's a weird thought, yeah

@HienNguyenHMN Жыл бұрын

Imagine if humans could harness the superpower of just... regrowing our organs.

@RedHair651 Жыл бұрын

They aren't regrowing them, they just shrink. But we are actually able to do this with some of our organs, especially our liver. You can remove a lot of someone's liver and still have it grow back. That all comes at a cost, though, because it means that sometimes you might get injured and grow another liver elsewhere.

@JJs2121 Ай бұрын

Answer God!

@meganofsherwood3665 Жыл бұрын

Ok, the storing fat makes sense...and the organ shrinking makes sense... but how does their body process and ship that fat to the organs that need it without a full-sized liver?

@fokii9880 Жыл бұрын

Is this narrator Ha m Green

@jordansorenson698 Жыл бұрын

I can't say I understand why they live in northern Alaska in the first place. Especially since... you know... winter... but hey, different flaps for different folks I guess.

@clomiancalcifer Жыл бұрын

They-they don't live in Alaska in the winter...that was the point. And Alaska in the summer is a literal 24 hour buffet of invertebrates for them to eat...with the bonus of having limited predation and competition to worry about dealing with in the first place.

@bradnarraway9141 Жыл бұрын

As a Canadian, I'm a little offended that these tenacious fliers apparently don't care for OUR northern climes 😂

@windlessoriginals1150 8 ай бұрын

🐦

@AceofHearth Жыл бұрын

1:26 "They ONLY migrate for 1500-2000KM". The shade. BTW, am I the only one bothered by the choice of the colour combination of the map graphic? I mean, why isn't the body of water represented with blue instead of dark blood red/maroon?

@benmccrobie9272 Жыл бұрын

...it is? the red is where they live, the dark blue is water, and the light blue is land

@AceofHearth Жыл бұрын

@@benmccrobie9272 I meant the one at 1:50