Animal locomotion, in ethology, is any of a variety of movements or methods that animals use to move from one place to another.Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flying, hopping, soaring and gliding. There are also many animal species that depend on their environment for transportation, a type of mobility called passive locomotion, e.g., sailing (some jellyfish), kiting (spiders) and rolling (some beetles and spiders).
Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, a suitable microhabitat, or to escape predators. For many animals, the ability to move is essential for survival and, as a result, natural selection has shaped the locomotion methods and mechanisms used by moving organisms. For example, migratory animals that travel vast distances (such as the Arctic tern) typically have a locomotion mechanism that costs very little energy per unit distance, whereas non-migratory animals that must frequently move quickly to escape predators are likely to have energetically costly, but very fast, locomotion.
Most migrations are triggered when the food resources in an area are not enough to support the entire population. Migration allows these populations of animals to move from an area where food resources are scarce to an area of more abundance. This behavior also prevents the long-term depletion of food resources in that area. The second most important reason for migration is reproduction. However, there can be other reasons such as local climate, season or temperature which influence animal migration by affecting food and reproduction.
A few famous examples are as follows:
1. Birds: Approximately 20% of all bird species migrate annually, most of which are seasonal in nature. The most famous example is the arctic tern which migrates annually from the arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic region during winter, seeking fresh feeding grounds and escape the cold weather, and back in the summer, covering approximately 19000 km every year.
2. Mammals: Every year during the dry season millions of zebra, wildebeest, and gazelles in and around the Serengeti National park in Africa, begin their annual migration to find drinking water and fresh pastures. It is the largest terrestrial mammal migration on earth. These herds can change the direction of their migration, to adapt to environmental conditions, such as the noise of thunder which is an indicator of rain. Migration is also crucial for the survival of many species of bats and marine mammals like whales and dolphins.
3. Insects: One of the most famous migrations in the world is that of the monarch butterflies. It is a remarkable feat of evolution, because the migration takes 3 generations of butterflies to travel from Mexico to Canada. This migration is necessary because the plants on which these butterflies feed don’t grow in southern regions. The fourth generation (sometimes called super-generation) travels back from Canada to Mexico to escape the cold temperatures and over-winter.
4. Fish: Every year millions of salmon from different species migrate thousands of kilometers from the oceans to the rivers where they were born to breed and lay eggs because the larva can only grow in fresh water.