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Sharks, Turtles, Penguins: All Swim In Circles. No One Knows Why

maximus otter

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Scientists have discovered a confounding pattern in nature: Many marine animals are strangely swimming in circles.

The researchers modeled the animals’ behavior using a variety of math ideas and the navigational concept of dead reckoning. In a variety of animals, including turtles, penguins, and a solitary whale shark, the scientists spotted the behavior because of the advent of true 3D sensing of movement.

AnimalsMovingInCircles.jpg

Why is this happening? No one is exactly sure.

Lead study author Tomoko Narazaki, of the University of Tokyo, first noticed the circles in a group of turtles she was studying. She and her team moved the turtles specifically to monitor how they would navigate back to their home waters, and even with a destination in mind, they still often swam in circles.

The scientists gathered the data while the animals—located everywhere from the Cape Verde Islands to Okinawa, Japan—were foraging, swimming home, and returning after nesting. The circles ranged from just a few to dozens in a row. The scientists saw most of the recorded circles during foraging, especially among sharks.

“Animals might also be able to improve measurement accuracy by taking multiple samples by circling several times. Animals might circle to derive directional/positional cues from the geomagnetic field, especially in navigationally challenging situations.”

The scientists say the ideal next step is to record a lot more data and analyze it in a simultaneous way to help identify patterns.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a35886739/marine-animals-swimming-circles-mystery/

maximus otter
 
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Why is this happening? No one is exactly sure.
I cannot understand why this is even slightly surprising to any biologist, let-alone a marine biologist.

Surely most aquatic animals would ALWAYS swim in a circle, unless going somewhere?

That's the marine equivalent of staying still (but moving so as to not become prey) and to equalise the effects of undercurrents/drift.

The centre of that circular path is the creature's net metapoint in a 3-D medium traversed mainly in the X and Y coordinate planes, and only partially in the Z-plane. Birds do exactly the same circular thing (but use all three axes almost equally).

Or what am I missing??
 
Have they always exhibited this behaviour, or has it begun recently?
I'd suggest it's a 'foraging pattern' - they keep going until something blunders into their path.
If it's just begun, then maybe it's confusion from changes to magnetic North?
 
Various stories popping up online over the past week about different types of animals walking in circles whereas previously they did not exhibit this behaviour.

 
Perhaps something to do with the change in magnetic North? Just guessing.

Edit: I'm repeating myself - just looked at my earlier post where I said much the same thing!
 
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It's aliens. No more crop circles, they've moved on to making animals swim/walk in circles and mutilating wheat. :)
 
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