Bar-headed Goose
Geese migrate over high altitudes over the Himalayas. They navigate through treacherous mountainous terrains between the wintering areas of Insia and their breeding grounds in Central Asia. One mountaineer, Lawrence Swan, recalls his experience seeing the Bar-headed Geese flying overhead, and said, “On one cold and still night in early April, I stood beside the Barun glacier [near Mount Makalu, the fifth highest mountain in the world at 8,463 m above sea level]. Coming from the south, the distant hum became a call. Then, as if from the stars above me, I heard the honking of bar-headed geese.”
The geese can travel these distances because of their mitochondria which provide oxygen and supply energy to their cells. They can reach altitudes of up to 30,000 feet to clear high-altitude mountains. They’re like olympic-sport runners (Science Direct).