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Visualizing Land Animals’ Longest Terrestrial Migrations
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Some land animals embark on epic migration journeys, covering hundreds of kilometers over time as they move between feeding grounds, safer habitats with fewer predators, and their home ranges.
This graphic visualizes the longest known land animal terrestrial migrations in kilometers.
The data comes from the study “Longest terrestrial migrations and movements around the world” by Joly, K., Gurarie, E., Sorum, M.S. et al. published in 2019.
Methodology
The longest migration distance was used for each species, and the years observed for the various animals ranged from 1980 to 2017.
Migration distances were calculated using straight-line, round-trip distances between key migratory endpoints, without considering terrain or obstacles.
Which Animal Has The Longest Recorded Migration?
Below, we show the longest known land animal migrations.
Species | Longest Round-Trip Migration Distance (km) |
Caribou | 1,350 |
Reindeer | 1,200 |
Gray wolf | 1,016 |
Mule deer | 772 |
Tibetan antelope | 700 |
Blue wildebeest | 650 |
Mongolian gazelle | 600 |
Burchell’s zebra | 588 |
Bison | 483 |
Pronghorn | 435 |
White-eared kob | 400 |
Moose | 392 |
Caribous from the Bathurst herd (named after the herd’s traditional calving grounds in Nunavut) and Porcupine herd (Yukon/Alaska) recorded the longest terrestrial migration at 1,350 km.
Caribous typically have the longest migrations out of all land animals, with various herds (Bathurst, Porcupine, Leaf River, Western Arctic, and Qamanirjuaq) dominating the first five spots for longest migrations.
Caribou herds typically migrate seasonally between the Arctic tundra and forested regions, seeking safe calving (birthing) grounds in spring in the Arctic and richer feeding areas in summer.
The study noted that that while caribou likely do exhibit the longest terrestrial migrations on the planet, over the course of a year, gray wolves move the most.
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