Top ten longest animal migrations

10 LONGEST ANIMAL MIGRATIONS

01 Arctic tern sterna paradisea 70,900km

this small bird – weighing just over 100g – undertakes an incredible twoway migration each year. in August or september each bird leaves its breeding grounds in Greenland and heads south, tracing the coast of either Africa or south America and feeding in the Weddell sea for four or five months before returning to the Arctic for the northern summer.

02 sooty shearwater Puffinus griseus 65,000km

these birds follow circular migration routes around the Atlantic and Pacific.

03 Northern elephant seal miroungaangustirostris 21,000km

these mammals swim between californian and mexican beaches.

04 Leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea 20,000km

one tagged turtle swam from indonesia to the usA across the Pacific.

05 Adélie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae 17,600km

Adélis follow the ice edge from breeding colonies to winter feeding grounds.

06 Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae 16,600km

the mammal with the longest journey swims from Arctic to tropical waters.

07 Globe skimmer pantala flavescens 14,000km+

evidence suggests that this dragonfly migrates from india to southern Africa.

08 Bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica 11,680km

this bird flies non-stop from Alaska to new Zealand in just eight days.

09 Monarch butterfly danaus plexippus 6,000km

the migration between usA and mexico takes three or four generations to complete.

10 caribou Rangifer tarandus 5,000km 

some herds range across Arctic canada in the longest migration of any terrestrial mammal.