• Question: Do birds that fly long distances (like migration) get jet lag?

    Asked by yellowflop10 to Aled, Kev, Willem on 20 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      Hi yellowflop10,

      I don’t think they do! For three reasons: 1) they mostly fly from north to south, and back – and you don’t get jet lag then, only when you fly east to west (or west to east)! 2) They don’t fly as fast as an airplane, so they have more time to adjust. And 3) since they’ve been flying the same routes for thousands of years, they have probably adapted (evolved) to not have any jet lag!

    • Photo: Kevin Arbuckle

      Kevin Arbuckle answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      It seems that they do, but they actually use it to their advantage. Birds that make long-distance migrations can use their ‘jet lag’ to help them figure out how far they have flown and so help decide where they are and how to navigate to where they are going!

      To add to Willem’s answer, this is true, jet lag only happens when you fly East-West rather than North-South and the time of the sun stays the same. Although some (long-distance) migrating birds go so far as to cross the equator which can have similar effects, and many make a curvy path to their destination and so move to the East/West as part of their flight.

    • Photo: Aled Roberts

      Aled Roberts answered on 20 Mar 2014:

      My silly answer would be they never get jet lag as they fly… I’ve not seen a bird catching a plane! although it would be interesting to do an experiment to see if they literally do get jet lag! :p

      Both good answers given already 🙂

Comments