Sandpipers go the extra 8,000 miles to have as much sex as possible

Small birds were observed travelling to as many as 24 different breeding sites in Alaska within six weeks, further than flying from Paris to Moscow

A bird smaller than a city pigeon has been recorded flying 13,000km (8,000 miles) in just one month to have sex with as many females as possible

In behaviour never witnessed before, male pectoral sandpipers were observed travelling to as many as 24 different "breeding sites" in northern Alaska within a single season, a team of scientists wrote in the journal Nature.