migration Archives

October 1, 2025September 30, 2025

Atlantic Salmon Migration: An Impressive Life Story

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) can grow up to 30 inches (76 cm) and weigh about 12 pounds (5.5 kg) after spending two years at sea. In four or more years, they can grow much larger, with a record caught in 1960 weighing 109 pounds (49.44 kg). Atlantic salmon migration is an impressive life story.

For four years or more, juvenile Atlantic salmon live in freshwater rivers or streams where they hatched. When the time is right, they undergo a process called smoltification, a complex series of physiological changes that prepare them for life in saltwater. During smoltification, their skin turns silvery and reflective, and their body shape changes. Their gills produce an enzyme that removes sodium from their cells, and various mechanisms are activated to regulate body fluids in the seawater environment.

The first stage of Atlantic salmon migration begins with their journey to the Atlantic Ocean. In the ocean, their diet shifts from primarily insects to larger foods, such as shrimp, eels, squid, and small fish. While in the ocean, they grow faster than in freshwater. After two, four, or more years at sea, something triggers the fish to return to the river where they hatched.

When the salmon reach the river’s mouth, they stop eating and swim upstream. Their primary goal at this point is to return to where their life began. There, they spawn, reproducing to pass on their genes to the next generation. Unlike Pacific salmon, which die after spawning, Atlantic salmon can sometimes recondition themselves to return to the sea and repeat this cycle of migration and spawning. The fact that Atlantic salmon stay in the ocean for varying lengths of time means that a drought in their native river or stream for a year may not halt the reproduction of that year’s salmon.

This impressive life story prompts several questions. How does the Atlantic salmon return to the stream where it hatched? Apparently, they can detect the precise chemical signature of their stream by odor. Another question is why this fish undergoes such a demanding process. Many other creatures in the ecosystems benefit from the salmon’s migration. As predators, Atlantic salmon help control populations of insects in the rivers and smaller fish and other creatures in the ocean. As prey, they serve as food for larger fish, seals, and sharks. They are also valued as a delicious and nutritious food source for humans.

A more challenging question is, how could the impressive life story of the Atlantic salmon migration have happened by chance? We believe it is not by chance. This is more than survival of the fittest; it is a complex system where one animal benefits many others, including humans. Once again, we observe the Creator’s design at work.

June 20, 2025June 20, 2025

Bogong Moths and Stellar Migration

Since ancient times, humans have used the stars for navigation. So have various animals and migratory birds. Even some insects use the stars to guide their flights at night. For the first time, researchers have discovered that insects use the stars to guide their long-distance migrations. The insects are Bogong moths, native to Australia.

Researchers spent years studying the migration of Bogong moths. They wanted to know how a moth flying at night could journey 620 miles (1000 km) to a place it had never been before. After spending their summer in the cool, dark caves of the Australian Alps, every autumn, they travel to their breeding grounds in the Australian bush.

Since Bogong moths travel at night, they can’t navigate by the Sun. Past research has shown that birds, as well as some insects such as dung beetles, use Earth’s magnetic field to guide their flight. However, dung beetles travel only a few meters, not 1000 kilometers. Researchers sought to understand how Bogong moths navigate their way.

Researchers captured some Bogong moths and placed them in a planetarium-like flight simulator that blocked Earth’s magnetic field, allowing the moths to navigate by eyesight alone. The research concludes that the moths use the stars to guide them.

These moths aestivate (remain dormant) during the hot summer, huddling tightly together on cave walls or dark crevices, and migrate in the cooler weather to eat and reproduce. What is the purpose of these moths and their stellar migration? They nourish various predators in Australia. Many birds rely on them for food. Additionally, mammals, particularly pygmy possums, depend on them. Even Australian aborigines have feasted on Bogong moths.

We have described long migrations by butterflies, including monarchs and painted ladies. However, butterflies are active during the day, but moths fly at night. Bogong moths are the first insects known to migrate long distances at night using the stars for guidance. Is the remarkable migration of the Bogong moths merely an accident, or is it another essential part of an incredibly complex, designed system of life?

References: space.com, the journal Nature, and Wikipedia

June 12, 2024June 10, 2024

Monarch Butterfly Migration

Some people have asked questions that show confusion about monarch butterfly migration. The idea that one butterfly migrates from northern latitudes to Mexico and back is incorrect. The monarch’s life begins in March and April as eggs on milkweed plants. They hatch into tiny caterpillars in about four days. After two weeks, the full-grown caterpillar will attach itself using silk to make a chrysalis. In about ten days, a butterfly will emerge and fly away. The butterfly will feed on flowers and fruit for two to six weeks. This first-generation monarch will die after laying eggs for the second generation.

The four-stage life cycle of the second, third, and fourth generations is the same as what we just outlined, but the fifth generation is different. The fifth generation is born in September and October, but the butterflies don’t die after two to six weeks. They complete the monarch butterfly migration to warmer climates in Texas, California, and Mexico. There, they hibernate for six to eight months, and the whole process starts again.

We have talked about hummingbirds, where one individual makes the journey from northern areas to subtropical climates. In the case of monarch butterfly migration, the journey involves five generations. How they make such a journey with five individuals who never see each other is the object of several studies. It seems rather obvious that their DNA has a built-in GPS, allowing this incredible journey. No one would suggest that a GPS is a product of blind mechanistic chance. There has to be a design to enable such a system to work. That design is the product of an intelligence that is not only built into the GPS but also the instructions for what to do in each of the four steps of this remarkable insect’s life.

God is the designer of the monarch butterfly migration system, and the design features we are coming to understand reflect God’s wisdom and purpose. What a great time we live in, to be able to understand the complexities of life and yet know there is still much for us to learn.

Data from Old Farmer’s Almanac

May 17, 2024May 16, 2024

Hummingbird Engineering Design

The popularity of our “Dandy Designs” columns exceeds anything else we produce. As we read science literature, new examples of design in nature come across my desk every day. Many living things demonstrate design, but the hummingbird engineering design is one of the most astounding examples.

The first hummingbird of the year arrived at my feeder here in Michigan on the first of May. I am told that the first hummingbird is a “scout,” paving the way for other hummingbirds to come to the feeder and get the sugar nectar they need for energy. How do they know where to go to get their desired sugar? The “scout” that just arrived was here last year at about this time. I know that because he has a scar on his head that seems to be a healed wound from an encounter with a predator.

We have many questions about how these tiny birds do what they do. Since we are still having chilly nights, the hummingbird’s metabolic system allows it to go into a state where its energy needs are reduced at night while remaining aware of any threats.

How do hummingbirds fly thousands of miles to arrive in Michigan in the spring and return to subtropical areas for the winter? Some have proposed that they hitchhike on geese, but that creative explanation is not supported by the evidence. We observe that the hummingbird engineering design allows them to follow the weather systems that bring warmth in the spring, and they return to warmer areas south of us in the fall.

The engineering behind the hummingbird’s flying ability challenges the best human engineering minds. The hummingbird can fly forward with enough speed to avoid predators, but it can also fly backward, sideways, or hover. The male hummingbirds in our area have a splash of red on their throats, but there is no red pigment in their feathers. Researchers only recently discovered the color dynamics that allow certain colors to be visible, and using it instead of pigment is a new technology.

The hummingbird engineering design conveys an excellent argument for the existence of God as their creator. They are part of our world’s beauty, complexity, and design that defies chance evolution.

May 9, 2024May 7, 2024

Bar-tailed Godwit Migration

In October 2022, a small bird set a new world record for long-distance flying as it flew nonstop from its hatching ground in Alaska to its wintering ground in Tasmania. This bird did not land, eat, or drink for 250 hours (eleven days) as it flew at an average ground speed of 30 miles per hour, traveling from one end of the Earth to the other. The only human-made machine that can do that is a Boeing 777 with a 213-foot wingspan and powerful jet engines. The bird was a bar-tailed godwit.

Bar-tailed godwits, as scientists have discovered, are well-equipped for their long-distance journeys. They possess a high metabolic rate and a physiological tolerance for elevated cortisol levels. However, it is their feather design that truly enables them to undertake these arduous journeys. The feathers of a bar-tailed godwit provide insulation, keeping the bird warm even in cold air masses. They also repel rain, and their shape is conducive to long flight hours, aiding the bird’s forward propulsion.

In recent years, scientific research on feathers has shown that they are perfectly engineered for a wide variety of uses. The feathers of a penguin are different from those of a hummingbird. The reason should be obvious, as these two birds live in very different environments. Fossil remains have shown that many dinosaurs had feathers. They used them to catch insects, keep warm, facilitate swimming or feeding in water, and attract mates. Those of us who believe there is design and purpose in all living things are not surprised by these discoveries. A contractor building a house will use materials that work in all kinds of houses, modifying them to fit the particular building under construction. In the same way, God uses materials to meet the needs of His organisms in various ways we are only beginning to understand.

Skeptics have questioned why God would design organisms to travel such immense distances. Does He have something against bar-tailed godwits? In this case, these birds benefit two environments with minimal resources. Alaska doesn’t have large amounts of topsoil to supply the needs of its plants. Tasmania is an island state of Australia, located 150 miles south of the mainland. Like Alaska, Tasmania has limited natural resources, but the arrival of the bar-tailed godwit brings nutrients that allow life to flourish on this island. The design of feathers makes that possible.

God sustains isolated environments by having lifeforms travel between them or from nutrient-rich areas to areas lacking those nutrients. God sustains the Earth by migrations of everything from insects to sea life to birds to large mammals. Traveling between needy areas sustains those areas and the lifeforms that travel between them.

Reference: Scientific American for May 2024, pages 41-51

August 2, 2022August 8, 2022

Greatest Daily Migration on Earth

One of the amazing facts about life on our planet is the way living things fill every niche of the environment. As science extends our knowledge of Earth’s remote regions, we find massive amounts of life with incredible diversity. We find the largest animal population on the Earth in biomass, the volume of the Earth occupied, and numbers of individuals in water deeper than sunlight can reach. The ocean depths make up 90% of Earth’s living space, and we now understand that living there are more than a million species that science has not named or described. Furthermore, they are part of the greatest daily migration on Earth.

Every day, ten billion tons of animals known as zooplankton move upward from as far as 3,000 feet below the surface. The zooplankton include copepods, salps, krill, and fish larvae. At only 1,000 feet down, the water is 20 degrees Fahrenheit colder than at the surface, and the pressure is 30 times as great. For a tiny fish larva, making a 1000-foot journey in about an hour would be like a human swimmer going 50 miles in that amount of time. These animals begin their ascent at sunset and stay near the surface until sunrise when they descend back to the cold dark below.

The purpose of this greatest daily migration on Earth is to eat and avoid being eaten. These zooplankton animals feed on phytoplankton, the microscopic aquatic plants that live in the top few hundred feet of water. Fish and squid feed on the zooplankton, which find protection at the great ocean depths. The first hint of this massive migration occurred in World War II when ships and submarines used sonar to sweep the ocean for enemy subs. They discovered that the seafloor seemed to be moving up and down, creating a deep “scattering layer” that reflected sonar signals. Now we have research tools to explore this layer, which turns out to be alive.

Science is just now beginning to understand the importance of the greatest daily migration on Earth. This huge mass of animal life, their excrement, and their remains sequester carbon in the very deep waters, making them rich in nutrients. Winds along the shores of continents push the surface water from the continental edges out into the open ocean. Their exit causes water to come up from ocean depths to the surface along the continent’s edges, bringing nutrients with it.

Our understanding of this mass migration is helping us to understand the carbon cycle, climate change, and many ecological issues. This greatest daily migration on Earth is a part of God’s creation. It reminds us of Proverbs 8:28-29, which says that Wisdom was there, “…when He established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when He gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep His command, and when He marked out the foundations of the earth” (NIV).

Reference: Scientific American, August 2022, pages 50 -67.

February 19, 2022February 15, 2022

Why Do Loons Migrate?

It’s a bird that isn’t great at flying and is awkward at walking on land, but it’s very skilled at diving. The common loon (Gavia immer), also known as the great northern diver, is an aquatic bird that somewhat resembles a large duck or small goose. Since flying isn’t their strong point, why do loons migrate?

Most birds have hollow bones to reduce their weight for flying. The fact that a loon’s bones are not hollow adds weight to facilitate diving but makes flying more of a challenge. Loons can dive as deep as 200 feet (60 meters) and stay underwater for three minutes. Because of their dense bones, they sit lower in the water than ducks or geese when they swim. The loons’ legs, located near the rear of their bodies, facilitate quick diving but make walking more difficult.

Loons are well-designed for catching fish and well-suited for life in the ocean, where they spend their flightless winters. When spring comes, the loons molt, shedding their gray feathers and growing black ones. They gain stiff wing feathers and begin exercising to build strength for the migration journey. After a couple of months of preparation, they are ready to fly hundreds of miles north to freshwater lakes, where they spend the summer.

Why should loons leave the oceans where they have an abundant food supply? Just think that they wouldn’t have to go through the changes necessary to fly to the northern lakes. They could also avoid the dangers involved in making the migration. They wouldn’t need the complex navigation methods they use to return to the same lakes where they originated. Why do loons migrate? Why not do what many northerners do when they retire and just enjoy life along the warm and sunny ocean shores?

The answer seems to be more beneficial to other living creatures than to the loons. Their departure from the ocean relieves pressure on fish populations in coastal marine areas. More than that, it helps to control fish populations in northern freshwater lakes. Loons return to the north to benefit the northern ecosystems. These birds are well-designed to fill a niche in the ecosystem that other life forms can’t fully meet.

So even though loons are not the best at flying and even less adapted for walking, they have what is needed to fill a niche in the ecosystem. Why do loons migrate? The loon’s migration may benefit other living creatures more than itself. How could natural selection explain this? According to the survival of the fittest, shouldn’t these birds survive and thrive doing their own thing rather than benefiting others? We don’t think natural selection fully explains the design of loons and their lifestyle. We suggest that the common loon is a testimony to the Creator’s wisdom of design in the life system we see all around us.

December 3, 2021December 2, 2021

King of the Serengeti is Not the Lion

In a December 2021 National Geographic article, Peter Gwin portrays the wildebeest as the “Unlikely King of the Serengeti.” That title suggests that the animal and its role are too complex for us to comprehend. In the case of the wildebeest, both their physical design and their incredible mass migrations of more than 1.3 million animals have drawn the attention of scientists.

The wildebeest is an animal that seems to have been fashioned from the parts of other animals. They have a head like a warthog, a neck that looks like an American buffalo, stripes like a zebra, and the tail of a giraffe. Wildebeest are members of the antelope family, but they have small horns, shaggy beards, big humps, and small legs. Their three-week birthing period in January allows them to produce 500,000 calves at the rate of about 24,000 per day. Despite their clumsy appearance, a wildebeest can run 50 miles (80 km) per hour and annually migrate 1,750 miles (2,816 km). They are the largest animals to engage in such a long migratory journey.

In their migration, wildebeest cross rivers in massive numbers. Tourists come to watch these crossings where crocodiles feed on many of the animals. The king of the Serengeti is also a food source for lions, hyenas, cheetahs, and leopards. New studies of the wildebeest and the Serengeti show the complex design of these animals and their environment.

Wildebeest migration follows the rain. As they travel through Kenya and Tanzania, wildebeest can sense where it is raining, and they follow the precipitation. By eating the new grass that the rain produces, wildebeest prevent the grass from growing tall enough for wildfires to develop. The lack of fires allows forests to grow, thus allowing more insects for birds to eat and more leaves to feed the herbivores. That sustains the elephant, giraffe, zebra populations.

It’s easy to see why the king of the Serengeti is not the lion but the wildebeest. It is a keystone species that, by its design, feeds many life forms and, by mass migrations, allows a stable ecology in the Serengeti. This is an example of God’s design of an animal that is only now being understood and appreciated. Everywhere we look, we see that a wonder-working hand has gone before.

References: The National Geographic issue for December of 2021 is one of the most interesting issues that popular magazine has produced. It is connected to a Disney program that will be streamed starting on December 8. The program titled “Welcome to Earth” will be hosted by actor Will Smith and feature many different animals and plants, including the wildebeest.

July 24, 2018July 23, 2018

Painted Lady Butterflies Out-migrate Monarchs

Painted Lady Butterflies Out-migrate Monarchs
One of the most amazing things we see in the natural world is the ability of some living things to make incredible migrations. In the past, we have described the monarch butterfly’s migrations from wintering areas in Mexico to northern parts of the United States covering a round trip of about 10,000 kilometers. However, we see that painted lady butterflies out-migrate monarchs.

Scientists have studied how the monarchs navigate such incredible distances with formidable obstacles in their way. Biologists have proposed a variety of models as to how these fragile butterflies could acquire such an ability. However, in the case of the monarchs, the journey is not made by a single butterfly but by a succession of generations.

Science News for July 21, 2018 (page 4) told about a study of another butterfly with an amazing migration. It has the scientific name Vanessa cardui and is commonly known as the painted lady butterfly. These butterflies live in Southern Europe and migrate to Africa in the fall–a distance of 12,000 km. That’s 2000 kilometers farther than the monarchs, and the journey involves crossing the Sahara Desert. As with the monarchs, scientists had believed that the migration involved several generations. New techniques allowed researchers to put markers on the painted ladies when they were caterpillars. We now know that at least some of the butterflies make this incredible journey in one lifetime.

When you look at the barriers to this migration including changes in wind direction, mountains, desert, and storms it is difficult not to be impressed with how the painted lady butterflies out-migrate monarchs. Trying to construct a possible model based on chance processes involves so many assumptions that it is hard to accept that this ability can have an evolutionary explanation. Believing that God’s creation included building a DNA set of instructions that allows the painted ladies and monarchs to migrate is not just an assumption, but the weight of the evidence supports it.
–John N. Clayton © 2018

April 25, 2017November 8, 2018

Global Citizens

One of the most interesting examples of design in living things is the ability that various forms of life have to migrate great distances for a wide variety of reasons. Sea turtles have an uncanny ability to return to the same beaches over and over to lay their eggs. Whales can travel long distances when they are ready to calve, giving their offspring a greater chance of survival. Migrations can be critical to animals or plants other than the animal making the migration. Sometimes the migration is critical to an environmental ecosystem. The salmon migration in Alaska, for example, is critical to the entire area sustaining plant life and a wide variety of animal life.

When insect migrations are studied, the question of how they make the migrations and why becomes even more complicated. Monarch butterflies make migrations of great lengths even though their life expectancy is too short for any single butterfly to make the entire migration. The champion of insect migrations is the globe skimmer dragonfly (Pantala flavescens). This insect has wide wings that look very delicate, but those wings can carry it for thousands of miles seeking wet seasons when it can reproduce. Migration has spread this insect’s DNA worldwide to every continent except Antarctica. Globe skimmers can fly for hours without landing and have been seen as high as 20,000 feet (6,200 m) in the Himalayas. They are sometimes called wandering gliders because they can glide on thermals in a way similar to birds. They seem to prefer moist winds, and they don’t stop for bad weather.

Migration is a fascinating part of the life of many creatures from whales to insects. Especially when we think of migrating insects like monarch butterflies and globe skimmers, it seems obvious that the ability and desire to make the migration are programmed into their DNA. We would suggest programming needs a Programmer.
–John N. Clayton © 2017