Abstract
To test whether magnetic directional information gained during the outward journey is incorporated in determining the home direction after displacement, young homing pigeons were transported to the release site in an artificially altered magnetic field. Controls were transported in a separate vehicle; a third group of birds was transported together with the controls, but after arriving at the release site, they were placed in the altered field for a period equal to the duration of the journey.
The control birds and the birds that had experienced the altered field while sitting at the release site normally were homeward oriented. The birds transported in the altered magnetic field generally showed a larger scatter, and in many cases a significant directional preference was not found, although this effect was much greater in some releases than in others. These findings indicate that directional information of the magnetic field gained en route does probably play some role in the navigational process.
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© 1978 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Wiltschko, R., Wiltschko, W., Keeton, W.T. (1978). Effect of Outward Journey in an Altered Magnetic Field on the Orientation of Young Homing Pigeons. In: Schmidt-Koenig, K., Keeton, W.T. (eds) Animal Migration, Navigation, and Homing. Proceedings in Life Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-11147-5_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-11147-5_14
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