Social Learning of Migratory Performance

Abstract

Follow the Leader How birds migrate between wintering and breeding grounds, often over thousands of kilometers through difficult conditions, remains mysterious. The recovery of North American Whooping Cranes by release of captive-reared birds trained to migrate by following aircraft provided an opportunity for Mueller et al. (p. 999 ; see the cover) to analyze 8 years of data for individual birds. The presence of older birds within a group of migrating cranes significantly decreased the deviations the flock took from a straight line migration path. The lack of evidence for a genetic component indicates that social learning dominates any innate capacity in developing migratory behavior.