Golden eagles get better at flying over time, say Swiss researchers
The results of the study could help to identify areas where human activities could conflict with the eagles' natural behaviours.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Golden eagles get better at flying over time, say Swiss researchers
Golden eagles perfect their flight as they age and learn to make better use of air currents, says a new study co-produced by Swiss researchers. In the space of three years, their living space is multiplied by more than 2,000.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Français
fr
Les aigles royaux deviennent meilleurs en vol au fil des ans
Original
Young eagles must continue to refine even innate behaviors throughout their lives, writes the Swiss Ornithological Institute in a press release published on Monday. The study was published in the specialist journal eLife.
Golden eagles fly by thermals: they use updrafts to cover long distances with relatively little energy. In the study, the researchers showed that on their first flights after leaving the parental nest, the birds confine themselves to the vicinity of mountain ridges.
Here, thermal conditions are quite predictable: the wind is deflected upwards and the air rises. As they grow older, golden eagles venture into flatter and flatter regions, where thermals are less predictable and harder to find.
Important insights for bird protection
The results of this study are invaluable for protection efforts, say the researchers. They could help identify areas where human activities could conflict with the eagles’ natural behaviours.
For their work, the researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Biology in Germany, the Swiss Ornithological Institute, and the University of Vienna equipped 55 young golden eagles with GPS receivers. Over a period of up to three years, they recorded the birds’ flight routes from nests in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Slovenia and Austria.
Translated from French by DeepL/gw
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Abroad
The citizenship obstacle course facing spouses of Swiss Abroad
This content was published on
The Ethos Foundation recommends that shareholders vote against all compensation-related items at the Annual General Meeting on March 7.
Top Swiss firms close to reaching gender quota in boards
This content was published on
The proportion of women on the boards of directors of the fifty largest listed companies in Switzerland currently stands at 28%.
Swiss committee wants to end government resignations during legislative term
This content was published on
Members of the Federal Council should no longer be able to leave office before the end of their term, according to a House of Representatives committee.
Swiss government seat: Ritter and Pfister nominated to succeed Amherd
This content was published on
Markus Ritter from St Gallen and Martin Pfister from Zug were officially nominated by the Centre Party on Friday to succeed Defence Minister Viola Amherd.
Top Swiss court rejects Russian request for administrative tax assistance
This content was published on
There is currently no reason to transmit banking information to the Russian Federation, the Swiss Federal Court has ruled.
After strike by radiologists, doctors demonstrate in Bern
This content was published on
Following a strike by radiology technicians in Fribourg, doctors, vets, dentists and chiropractors expressed their frustration on Friday outside parliament in the Swiss capital.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.