瑞典科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)一種學(xué)名叫做“中沙錐”的鳥兒堪稱動(dòng)物世界中的長途飛行之王,，能夠一次性不間斷地飛行數(shù)千公里,，這是首次發(fā)現(xiàn)鳥兒具有如此強(qiáng)的長途飛行能力,。
瑞典隆德大學(xué)等機(jī)構(gòu)研究人員在新一期英國《生物學(xué)快報(bào)》雜志上報(bào)告了這一發(fā)現(xiàn),。他們跟蹤了一些在北歐和俄羅斯棲息,，但遷徙到非洲過冬的“中沙錐”的飛行情況,。
結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn),，這些鳥兒具備不間斷超長距離飛行的能力,，比如有一只“中沙錐”曾在48小時(shí)內(nèi)飛行約4500公里路程，這種長距離飛行能力已經(jīng)可以與一些飛機(jī)相比,。
研究人員認(rèn)為,，“中沙錐”的長途飛行能力可能是長期自然選擇的結(jié)果。具備長途飛行能力的“中沙錐”,，不僅能夠躲避遷徙途中的天敵,，也能減少因在陌生地區(qū)停留感染疾病的機(jī)會(huì)，生存下來并繁衍后代的可能性大增,。久而久之,，長途飛行能力成為“中沙錐”種群的普遍能力。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Biology Letters DOI： 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0343
Great flights by great snipes: long and fast non-stop migration over benign habitats
Klaassen, Raymond H. G.; Alerstam, Thomas; Carlsson, Peter; Fox, James W.
Migratory land birds perform extreme endurance flights when crossing ecological barriers, such as deserts, oceans and ice-caps.When travelling over benign areas, birds are expected to migrate by shorter flight steps, since carrying the heavy fuel loadsneeded for long non-stop flights comes at considerable cost. Here, we show that great snipes Gallinago media made long and fast non-stop flights (4300–6800 km in 48–96 h), not only over deserts and seas but also over wide areas ofsuitable habitats, which represents a previously unknown migration strategy among land birds. Furthermore, the great snipesachieved very high ground speeds (15–27 m s?1), which was not an effect of strong tailwind support, and we know of no other animal that travels this rapidly over sucha long distance. Our results demonstrate that some migratory birds are prepared to accept extreme costs of strenuous exerciseand large fuel loads, even when stopover sites are available along the route and there is little tailwind assistance. A strategyof storing a lot of energy before departure, even if migration is over benign habitats, may be advantageous owing to differentialconditions of fuel deposition, predation or infection risk along the migration route.
