Even birds get jet lagged, study shows

Research shows some birds experience jet lag A species of seabirds appears to become disoriented on flights back to its nest due to shifting time zones. Animals Even birds get jet lagged, study shows October 29, 20262:00 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered Geoff Brumfiel Even birds get jet lagged, study shows Listen · Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www. npr. org/player/embed/nx-s1-6019228/nx-s1-9984459" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Manx shearwaters race back to their nests after spending weeks hunting at sea. New research suggests they get jet lagged on their journey home. birdsonline/ hide caption toggle caption i birdsonline/ New research shows that humans are not the only species to get jet lag: Some birds appear to experience it too. Shots - Health News Planning a long-haul flight? Here's how to outsmart jet lag A study published in the journal Science found that a type of seabird known as the Manx shearwater appears to become slightly disoriented during long flights across the Atlantic Ocean. That disorientation, the authors say, is due to the bird's internal clock falling out of sync with the sun's position in the sky. Manx shearwaters are a common bird in the British Isles. They look a little like seagulls, but "they're actually very closely related to an albatross," said Patrick Lewin, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Oxford. Shearwaters mate for life, and when they breed, a couple lays just one egg. Science In photographs, scientists revel in the world they seek to discover Then they take turns incubating it: "One partner will sit on the egg nonstop while the other one goes out to sea," Lewin said. For up to two weeks the hunting partners scour the North Atlantic for fish and squid, often travelling hundreds of miles from their nests. Once these birds' bellies are full "they absolutely bomb it back to their colony," Lewin said. Often they make the long journey home in just a day or so. Science As hundreds of millions of birds head south, the invisible danger is glass Which raised an interesting question: Do Manx shearwaters feel jet lag (or perhaps more aptly, flap lag)? To see if these little birds really did feel the effects of flying through time zones like humans do, Lewin used a remarkable tool – for 20 years, his colleagues had been tagging birds with GPS trackers and collecting data on their flights out to the Atlantic and back.