Introduction to Part IX

Abstract

The ability of navigation is perhaps one of the most important capabilities for the majority of animals. It is the basis of many important activities, such as locating food or finding back to one’s nest and thus is likely to have a high survival value. Therefore, it seems plausible that navigation behavior is among the abilities that had to evolve early, and even “simple” animals, such as many insects, show an amazing high capability of finding their way around in rather complex environments.