Records of compass heading for long-distance ocean migrators show mid-ocean reorientation
The mechanisms by which animals navigate during long ocean migrations to specific targets remain equivocal despite over a century of investigation. To address this question, we developed and deployed a new tag that allowed the compass heading of migrators to be remotely relayed via satellite. On transocean migrations (>1000 kilometers and mean duration 27.5 days) between nesting and foraging sites, green turtles ( Chelonia mydas ) tended to perform sections of travel with a consistent compass heading, even if that led them off course, before reorienting. That migrating turtles did not continuously fine-tune their heading but rather made occasional reorientations is consistent with the suggestion that they use geomagnetic signposts, or other crude maps, to facilitate occasional course corrections.
Authors
- Graeme C. Hays (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3314-8189)
- Paolo Luschi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7081-3507)
- Daniel P. Costa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0233-5782)
- Giulia Cerritelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3244-8577)
- Arina B. Favilla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6370-0499)
- Nicole Esteban (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4693-7221)
- Kimberley L. Stokes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5144-5008)
- J. Tromp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0223-8368)
- Matthew Rutishauser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6080-5122)
Institutions
- University of Pisa (IT)
- Deakin University (AU)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- National Institute of Polar Research (JP)
- Swansea University (GB)
- Wildlife Computers (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2026-06-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed8113
- Primary Topic
- Turtle Biology and Conservation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Fondation Bertarelli
- Università di Pisa