Global animal movements based on Movebank data (map) [Updated!]

This new & improved animation shows animal movements across the world based on GPS and Argos Doppler tracking data shared publicly on Movebank (). Publicly shared animal tracks of all species covering at least 500 km distance in one direction and at least 45 days on Movebank as of May 2022 were used (about 44,000 tracks). Data were filtered to remove outliers but some likely remain. The movements were combined into 1 synthetic year. Movements between recorded locations were calculated using spline interpolation. The animal tracking data accessible through Movebank belongs to researchers all over the world. These researchers can choose to make part or all of their study information and animal tracks visible to other registered users, or to the public. The animation was created by Matthias Berger (). The software is Java/OpenGL code written by Matthias Berger. Background imagery comes from Blue Marble—Next Generation, produced by Reto Stöckli, NASA Earth Observatory (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). The ASTER Global 30-m Digital Elevation Model was used for lighting calculations. ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA.