{"id":41243,"date":"2024-08-16T14:42:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T12:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/403ce2fb-b954-4a71-bfed-624bbfc716f5"},"modified":"2024-08-16T16:27:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T14:27:27","slug":"how-do-birds-fuel-their-migrations-we-take-a-look-how-they-stoke-up-for-lengthy-journeys","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/how-do-birds-fuel-their-migrations-we-take-a-look-how-they-stoke-up-for-lengthy-journeys\/","title":{"rendered":"How do birds fuel their migrations? We take a look how they stoke up for lengthy journeys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Toms takes a look at how birds fuel for lengthy migrations <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Friday, 16 August 2024 at 12:42 PM<\/p>

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Migration can be energetically expensive, requiring birds to lay down significant<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0fat deposits. Fat is a highly efficient fuel, delivering up to nine times more energy than other alternatives.<\/strong><\/p>

Oxidation \u2013 the process that delivers energy rom fat \u2013 also produces an equal weight of water, which is essential during flight.<\/p>

There are costs to using fat as fuel. First, there\u2019s the extra weight; second, its metabolism requires small amounts of protein to be broken down \u2013 at least five per cent of the energy released \u00a0during a migratory flight comes from protein.<\/p>