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Animal migration
Every year swallows fly to Africa and back, monarch butterflies fly thousands of kilometres to the mountains of Mexico and humpback whales swim between cold and warm seas. Find out why animals migrate, how they fuel the journey and find their way using the sun, the stars and the Earth's magnetic field, and calculate the speeds of record-breaking travellers. Three ages, each with a text, an experiment, a game, a quiz, a printable worksheet and a teacher sheet.
Ages 6–7Long journeysWhy do swallows, butterflies and whales go on long journeys every year, and how do they find the way? Make a shadow stick to see how the sun can help.Ages 10–11Why and how animals migrateWhat triggers migration, how animals get ready, record-breaking journeys of butterflies, terns and whales, and the clues animals use to find the way. Then measure a migration on a globe and work out how long it takes.Ages 15–16Fuel, speed and navigation on the moveThe physiology of migration, record journeys analysed with speed and energy calculations, the classic experiments on sun, star and magnetic compasses, and how tracking devices produce the evidence.