In their study, the scientists found that many marine megafauna exhibited
Scientists from the University of Tokyo for the first timediscovered a mysterious circling behavior in homing green turtles during an experiment on their movement and homing. Researchers transported nesting turtles from one location to another to study their navigational abilities.
Later, scientists realized that different typesmarine animals make more or less the same circular movements. The discovery is surprising in part because swimming in a straight line is the most efficient way to get around. This suggests that there must be some good reason why the animals are circling.
Circular behavior of various marine representatives of the megafauna. Credit: Narazaki et al / iScience
Some cases of whirling have been reported inplaces of feeding animals. Scientists have suggested that circling is useful for finding food. However, it turned out that this is not suitable for all species: seals circle mainly during the day, although they feed at night. Other incidents of whirling were also unrelated to food hunting. For example, biologists observed a male tiger shark circling to approach the female for courtship. That being said, data on sea turtles suggest that circling helps them navigate.
Scientists say that research on suchsmall-scale movements, including circular motion, in more marine species can reveal important behaviors that would otherwise not be accounted for. In future research, they would like to study the movements of animals depending on the internal state and environmental conditions in search of additional explanations.
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