How bar-headed geese fly over the Himalayas.
Bar-headed geese cross the Himalayas on one of the most iconic high-altitude migrations in the world. Heart rates and metabolic costs of flight increase with elevation and can be near maximal during steep climbs. Their ability to sustain the high oxygen demands of flight in air that is exceedingly oxygen-thin depends on the unique cardiorespiratory physiology of birds in general along with several evolved specializations across the O2 transport cascade.
Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; scottg2@mcmaster.ca.
Graham R
GR
Scott
Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall, United Kingdom;
Lucy A
LA
Hawkes
Office of Dean of Graduate Research, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay Campus, Tasmania, Australia;
Peter B
PB
Frappell
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom;
Patrick J
PJ
Butler
School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom; and.
Charles M
CM
Bishop
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
William K
WK
Milsom
D000064:Acclimatization; D000531:Altitude; D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005426:Flight, Animal; D005777:Geese / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D013045:Species Specificity