Sea turtles are amazing navigators -- but they only use crude maps

[Judi Lynn]

Sea turtles have an internal compass -- but it's not perfect. They can go the wrong way for hundreds of miles before reaching their foraging grounds.

Tibi Puiu by Tibi Puiu July 16, 2020

Sea turtles are migratory species from the moment they are ready to come into this world. After they’ve hatched out of their nesting grounds on the beaches of Florida, Yucatan, or other eastern coasts of the Americas, they immediately embark on a frenzied race towards the sea.

On their journeys, these younglings can end up traveling more than 10,000 miles across the entire North Atlantic, before returning to their original breeding grounds.

Clearly, sea turtles are amazing navigators, likely using the earth’s geomagnetic field to pinpoint their position and orientate. However, don’t imagine that their internal GPS is very accurate.

According to a new study, sea turtles often miss their mark, sometimes by hundreds of miles. This can add thousands of extra miles to their migrations as they take less straightforward paths to their destination. So, instead of Google Maps, think of the sea turtle’s positioning system more like a very crude map — it’s far from perfect, but it gets the job done.

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/sea-turtles-are-amazing-navigators-but-they-only-use-crude-maps/

[CatLady78]

1. I support the sea turtle

Slow and steady wins the race!

[2naSalit]

2. Which makes me wonder

If they are disrupted by shipping routes and other marine traffic.