Human beings generally stay in a place for a long time. However, many animals live in the same place for a short period of time and move on to another place.
Some animals, including mammals, migrate or travel long distances in search of warmer climates and food or for reproduction. Some travel from one part of the world to another, past oceans, over plains or through the sky on a definite route. There are species that travel thousands of miles every year, while others make the trip just once in their lifetime.
Many mammals spend spring and summer in the cool northern hemisphere. During autumn and winter, when food becomes scarce, they move south in search of a warmer climate and more abundant supply of food.
Mammals also move from one place to another for the purposes of mating, gestation, birth and raising their young. Many ocean mammals travel thousands of miles to reach their traditional breeding grounds. For example, grey whales spend their winter in sheltered lagoons off the coast of California, where their young are born. One of the largest caribou herds in North America, on the other hand, travels up to 5,000 kilometres each year in a journey to reach its ancient calving grounds and then it goes back south to its winter range.
Marine biologists have now found that the mammal that has the longest migration is the humpback whale. The humpback whale is known to travel from Central America to its feeding grounds in Antarctica – a whooping distance of over 8000 kilometres!
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