Detection of magnetic field intensity gradient by homing pigeons (Columba livia) in a novel "virtual magnetic map" conditioning paradigm.

ABSTRACT: It has long been thought that birds may use the Earth's magnetic field not only as a compass for direction finding, but that it could also provide spatial information for position determination analogous to a map during navigation. Since magnetic field intensity varies systematically with latitude and theoretically could also provide longitudinal information during position determination, birds using a magnetic map should be able to discriminate magnetic field intensity cues in the laboratory. Here we demonstrate a novel behavioural paradigm requiring homing pigeons to identify the direction of a magnetic field intensity gradient in a "virtual magnetic map" during a spatial conditioning task. Not only were the pigeons able to detect the direction of the intensity gradient, but they were ev

SUBMITTER: Mora CV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3767695 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature