How Bar-Headed Geese Fly Over the Himalayas

Abstract

Bar-headed geese cross the Himalayas on one of the most iconic high-altitude migrations in the world. Heart rates and metabolic costs of flight increase with elevation and can be near maximal during steep climbs. Their ability to sustain the high oxygen demands of flight in air that is exceedingly oxygen-thin depends on the unique cardiorespiratory physiology of birds in general along with several evolved specializations across the O2 transport cascade.