The bar-tailed godwit has just broken its own record for the world's longest non-stop flight completed by any animal, including humans in planes, according to a Lund University press release. This avian airborne wonder can fly non-stop for eight days, while the most impressive man-made aircraft can only remain in the sky for 82 hours straight.
(The bar-tailed godwit. Photo: Lars Hedenström)
The bird's journey, from Alaska to New Zealand, covers just over 6,835 miles. The bar-tailed godwit completes this trip twice a year, in Autumn going to New Zealand, and in the spring on the return trip back to Alaska.
The seemingly tireless flier manages the trip without stopping once for food or rest. All other migratory birds can only handle trips that are twice as short as what the bar-tailed godwit journeys.
Lund University's Anders Hedenström reports that the long-distance flight record for aircraft is held by QiniteQ's Zephyr, an unmanned solar-powered craft. It can remain in the air for around three and a half days.
One reason for the bar-tailed godwit's success is that it has extraordinarily efficient use of fuel, consuming only .41 percent of its body weight over each hour of any given long flight.
Hedenström says, "This figure is extremely low compared with other migratory birds."
The bird also possesses an aerodynamic body shape that minimizes air resistance. It stores body fat and protein to fuel its trips. The bar-tailed godwit is additionally a speedy traveler, relative to other birds and animals.
Hedenström, for example, compares the bird to eels that swim about 3,418 miles between Europe and the Sargasso Sea. While the eels consume less energy than the bird does during its long journey, the eels could never compete with the bar-tailed godwit. He said that in order to achieve the bird's 6,835-mile trip, the eels would need 345 days.
Many questions remain about this bird record holder, which never gets lost in the air. Researchers suspect it possesses an inner compass that makes use of Earth's magnetic field.
Please watch how beautiful bar-tailed godwits, along with other shorebirds, look as they come in for a landing.
Tags: Animal Behavior, Animals, Oceans, Travel, Video
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