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Are Animal Maps Magnetic?

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Magnetite Biomineralization and Magnetoreception in Organisms

Part of the book series: Topics in Geobiology ((TGBI,volume 5))

Abstract

A variety of animals travel long distances to relatively small targets (reviewed in Gould, 1982a). For example, honey bees may venture out as far as 15 km from their hive and return safely; vast numbers of monarch butterflies in the eastern United States fly thousands of kilometers to small, isolated mountain forests in Mexico; green sea turtles which hatch on tiny Ascension Island return there as adults years later from feeding grounds thousands of kilometers away; and many species of birds regularly migrate between restricted summer and winter territories, while homing pigeons can successfully return home after being displaced hundreds of kilometers. In each of these examples, the ability to navigate appears to be relatively unaffected by overcasts which block celestial cues, and all raise the question of whether animals have a “map” sense.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Princeton University, 08544, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

    James L. Gould

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  1. James L. Gould
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Joseph L. Kirschvink

  2. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Douglas S. Jones

  3. Florida State Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Bruce J. MacFadden

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© 1985 Plenum Press, New York

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Gould, J.L. (1985). Are Animal Maps Magnetic?. In: Kirschvink, J.L., Jones, D.S., MacFadden, B.J. (eds) Magnetite Biomineralization and Magnetoreception in Organisms. Topics in Geobiology, vol 5. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0313-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0313-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7992-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0313-8

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