Summary
Homing pigeons were tested for their ability to detect air pressure changes in an otherwise constant environment chamber. Ten of 12 birds tested did respond to the pressure changes. The 50% threshold of detection was 10 mm H2O or less, which is approximately equivalent to a change in altitude of 10 m or less. Performance was better in a chamber with artificial background noise than in an abnormally quiet chamber.
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We thank Drs. D. R. Griffin, K. Adler, and J. Hatch for reading and criticizing an early draft of this paper. This work was supported by an NSF Graduate Fellowship to M. Kreithen, a grant from the Cornell Office of Sponsored Research, and NSF Research Grants GB 13046 X and GB 35199 X to W. T. Keeton.
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Kreithen, M.L., Keeton, W.T. Detection of changes in atmospheric pressure by the homing pigeon,Columba livia . J. Comp. Physiol. 89, 73–82 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696164
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696164