1. **Eels](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/09/eels/prosek-text).** These long, bony fish make epic, mysterious treks across entire oceans. The European eel, for example, is born in European rivers but travels all the way to the Sargasso Sea (map), a distance of thousands of miles, to spawn. The baby eels then return to European rivers and, once it’s time for them to spawn, follow their parents’ path to very same place in the Sargasso Sea. “Nobody really knows how they do it,” Wikelski said.
2. Bar-Tailed Godwit. This shorebird can fly in one go from its Alaska breeding grounds across the entire globe to New Zealand. In 2007, a female bar-tailed godwit got a feather in its cap for the longest nonstop bird migration ever measured—7,145 miles (11,500 kilometers) from Alaska to New Zealand. The bird completed the journey in just nine days, according to biologists who tracked the flight using satellite tags
3. Blackpoll Warbler. This North American forest dweller has figured out an express way of getting to its winter refuge in Venezuela, Wikelski said. The bird fattens itself up before snagging a ride on a trade wind, sailing from the northeastern U.S. to South America in a hundred hours—entirely over the open ocean. “That’s completely crazy,” he said. On the way back home, the bird takes the more scenic route, stopping on land to rest and refuel.
4. Mexican Free-Tailed Bat. These flying mammals are common in Texas, where they form colonies in the millions. Wikelski, who was involved in a tracking study of the bats, discovered that they can fly up to 40 miles (70 kilometers) from their home caves in search of moths or mosquitoes. “At some point they turn around and … basically know how to find [their way] back,” Wikelski said. Evidence suggests the animals use both landmarks and the smell of their fellow cave bats to point them home.
5. Sahara Desert Ant. These insects travel relatively long distances—up to 0.3 mile (0.5 kilometer)—from their central nest sites to search for food. Even though the ants run chaotically in many directions, they remember exactly how far they’ve gone by counting their steps, as well as navigating via polarized light patterns from the sun, Wikelski said. Finding their way back home is critical for these desert denizens—if they stay outside too long, they’ll get fried in the sun.
Source : 5 Amazing Animal Navigators
