Migratory Birds can use Earth's Magnetic Field Like a GPS
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Many migratory birds use Earth's magnetic field as a compass, but some can also use information from that field to determine more or less where they are on a mental map.
Eurasian reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) appear to calculate their geographical position by drawing data from different distances and angles between magnetic fields and the Earth's shape. The findings suggest that the birds use magnetic information as a sort of "GPS" that tells them not only where to go, but where they are initially, says Richard Holland at Bangor University in the UK.
When we travel, we have a map - which tells us where we are - and we have a compass, which tells us which way to go to reach our destination," he says. We don't think birds have quite this level of accuracy or degree of knowledge of the whole Earth. Even so, they see how magnetic cues change as they move along their normal path - or even if they're far displaced from that path."
Scientists have known for decades that migratory birds rely on cues from the sun, the stars and Earth's magnetic field to determine which direction to head towards. But figuring out direction using a compass is markedly different from knowing where in the world they are, and scientists still debate about whether - and how - birds figure out their current map position.
[...] However, we still don't fully understand the neurological mechanisms that enable birds to sense these aspects of Earth's magnetic field.
[...] While the research confirms reed warblers rely on these magnetic fields for positioning, it doesn't mean that all birds do so, he adds. Not all birds work the same way."
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological SciencesDOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1363
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