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Earth The Military

Eagles Changed Migration Route To Avoid Ukraine War 28

Scientists report that Greater Spotted Eagles altered their migration routes across Ukraine to avoid conflict and habitat destruction caused by the war. The BBC reports: The scientists studied GPS data from tagged birds in the months after the February 2022 invasion, a time of heavy fighting in northern Ukraine as Russia tried to take Kyiv by sending troops south from Belarus. The researchers from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the British Trust for Ornithology reported their findings in the journal Current Biology. "The war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on people and the environment. Our findings provide a rare window into how conflicts affect wildlife," said lead author Charlie Russell, a postgraduate researcher at the University of East Anglia.

Classified as a vulnerable species, the Greater Spotted Eagle is a large, brownish-colored bird of prey. Researchers started following them using GPS tracking devices in 2017 but didn't expect to be monitoring them through an active conflict zone five years later. The findings reveal they made large deviations from their previously tracked routes. They also spent less time stopping at their usual refueling sites in Ukraine or avoided them entirely. As a result, they traveled farther, about an extra 52 miles (85km) on average.

For migrating birds, stopover sites are essential places to get food, water, and shelter. These changes delayed the birds' arrival at the breeding grounds and likely made them use more energy, to damaging effect. "No doubt about it. I think the take-home story is that the conflict in Ukraine is fundamentally disrupting the migratory ecology of this species," said Dr Jim Reynolds, Assistant Professor in Ornithology and Animal Conservation at the University of Birmingham, who was independent from the study. "For a vulnerable species like this, anything that disrupts breeding performance is a major problem. As a conservation biologist, you worry about that in a massive way." Despite all the tagged birds surviving, researchers believe their experience may have affected their ability to breed.
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Eagles Changed Migration Route To Avoid Ukraine War

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  • Not just eagles (Score:3, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday May 25, 2024 @03:09AM (#64497769)

    Hundreds of thousands of young Russian men also changed their migration routes.

    • And possibly Don Henley.

      • by p51d007 ( 656414 )
        They are "Already Gone" because there is no "Peaceful Easy Feeling" there.
        • Henley may have gotten "Desperado" once he found out "Somebody's Gonna Hurt Someone" (gonna be a "Heartache Tonight").

          "I Can't Tell You Why", but Putin may eventually figure out that "After the Thrill is Gone" "On the Border", in the end he's just "Wasted Time" (as well as hundreds of thousands of lives).

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Yeah, at least 300k of them ended theirs abruptly into the Ukrainian ground, and another half a mil are now limping around "veteran facilities" hoping to get a wooden limb sometime in the next year or few.

      • Yeah, at least 300k of them ended theirs abruptly into the Ukrainian ground, and another half a mil are now limping around "veteran facilities" hoping to get a wooden limb sometime in the next year or few.

        No, those were the patriotic ones who didn't have the good sense to change their migration routes to places outside of Russia and then found themselves in Ukraine asking themselves: "Why are we here and what are we fighting for?".

    • They are often upcycled by nature.
      "Do not question where a Bakhmut dog gets its food."

  • by Lavandera ( 7308312 ) on Saturday May 25, 2024 @04:27AM (#64497819)

    Ukrainian soil (chernozem) is the best in the world.

    And war pollutes with toxic waste from bombs, fuel, fires etc.

    This is an ecological disaster.. possibly bigger than Chernobyl

    • by Rei ( 128717 )

      As a horticulturist, seeing images of the trenchlines cut into the deep chernozem in the south makes me envious.

      Unfortunately a lot of invading powers over history have had the same reaction :P

    • by kenh ( 9056 )

      Uh, no. Will it be unhealthy to visit the battlefield after the war ends, worse than it was around Chernobyl after the accident? No, of course not - don't be so dramatic.

      • I don't think the point was about visiting the battlefield, I think it was about growing crops in polluted soil.

        I doubt that war pollutes as much as industrial activity though, I think that Ukraine is probably still going to be better off than countries which have destroyed their cropland in that way.
  • Eagles Changed Migration Route To Avoid Ukraine War

    Being shot at by Putin's hoard of mindless orcs will have that effect.

    • We do know that Russia has spoofed GPS in the region... so.. are we sure the migratory routes changed?.. or is there some correlation to spoofing that was going on. an interesting quote from source below is:

      Jamming is the most widespread form of such meddling, but there have also been numerous instances of "spoofing", when legitimate signals are replaced with fake ones, indicating a false location.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cne900k4wvjo/ [bbc.co.uk]

  • by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Saturday May 25, 2024 @09:03AM (#64498059) Journal
    That said, I didn't know they were still touring ...
  • So the scientists confirmed that Eagles figured out to avoid gunfire & explosions all by themselves? What a marvel of adaptation, certainly worthy of a serious write-up in a prestigious scientific journal!

    Birds have been doing some form of this since shortly after the first man pointed a rifle skyward and thought to himself, "Here comes dinner!"

The first version always gets thrown away.

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