据2013年10月9日Nature Communications上发表的一项研究，高山雨燕（Tachymarptis melba）在穿过撒哈拉的迁徙过程中能够连续飞行六个月以上。这项研究表明，包括睡眠在内的所有至关重要的生理过程在飞行过程中都能长久保持。
与在地面上或在水中相比，飞行是身体消耗非常大的活动。迄今为止，迁徙的鸟类一直被认为在与迁徙相关的长途飞行中会花一些时间在地面上或水上休息以恢复体力。
Felix Lietchi和本文其他作者发表的证据表明，三只高山雨燕在其在欧洲和西非之间的穿过撒哈拉的迁徙过程中连续不停歇地飞行了200天。作者给这些雨燕配备了GPS数据记录仪，它们能测定鸟的位置和活动水平。基于所存储的数据，他们重建了这些鸟儿在至少7个月时间里的非繁殖运动和活动模式。他们发现，在200天的时间里，这些鸟儿都是活跃的，要么滑翔、要么拍打翅膀。这导致他们得出结论认为，这些鸟儿在200天里没有停下来休息，即便是在飞了超过2000公里之后。另外，他们获得的活动模式显示，在它们在非洲的整个非繁殖期内，这些雨燕都能连续保持在空中，并且一定能够在飞行中恢复体力。此前，如此长距离的、持久的运动只对生活在海上的动物有报道。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
Nature Communications DOI:10.1038/ncomms3554
First evidence of a 200-day non-stop flight in a bird
Felix Liechti,Willem Witvliet,Roger Weber & Erich Bachler
Being airborne is considered to be energetically more costly as compared with being on the ground or in water. Birds migrating or foraging while airborne are thought to spend some time resting on the ground or water to recover from these energetically demanding activities. However, for several decades ornithologists have claimed that some swifts may stay airborne for almost their whole lifetime. Here we present the first unequivocal evidence that an individual bird of the Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) can stay airborne for migration, foraging and roosting over a period of more than 6 months. To date, such long-lasting locomotive activities had been reported only for animals living in the sea. Even for an aerodynamically optimized bird, like the Alpine swift, flying requires a considerable amount of energy for continuous locomotive control. Our data imply that all vital physiological processes, including sleep, can be perpetuated during flight.
