多选题
A mysterious phenomenon is the ability of {{U}}over-water migrants{{/U}}
to travel on course. Birds, bees, and other species can keep track of time
without any sensory cues from the outside world, and such "biological clocks"
clearly contribute to their "compass sense". For example, they can use the
position of the Sun or stars, along with the time of day, to find north. But
compass sense alone cannot explain how birds navigate the ocean: after a flock
traveling east is blown far south by a storm, it will assume the proper
northeasterly course to compensate. Perhaps, some scientists thought, migrants
determine their geographic position on Earth by celestial navigation, almost as
human navigators use stars and planets, but this would demand of the animals a
fantastic map sense. Researchers now know that some species have a magnetic
sense, which might allow migrants to determine their geographic location by
detecting variations in the strength of the Earth's magnetic field.
The main idea of the passage is that:
- A. migration over land requires a simpler explanation than migration over
water does.
- B. the means by which animals migrate over water are complex and only partly
understood.
- C. the ability of migrant animals to keep track of time is related to their
{{U}}magnetic sense{{/U}}.
- D. knowledge of geographic location is essential to migrants with little or
no {{U}}compass sense{{/U}}.
- E. explanations of how animals migrate tend to replace, rather than build
on, one another.