Animal Navigation is based on quantum effects
Quantum mechanics proposes that there has been a quantum computer running since the beginning of time that records everything, and also that there is entanglement where things are forever linked however far apart they are
This world is so weird and unlikely that it is impossible to understand properly or as Feynman said if you think you understand it you must have misunderstand.
I believe that animal navigation is based on Quantum effects which are inimical to a classic Newtonian science based approach. Dowsers know that you can access this Universal database and so by extension I believe that animals can too. They are not influenced by intellectual arguments they just do what seems right.
Different species have different strategies but all need access to the database to succeed. As Ingo Schiffner has proved, navigation is difficult, and needs all the available input to succeed. You need to integrate every piece of information available.
But animals do have a sense of direction, how else does a pigeon know in which direction to head for? Some animals plug into this Universal Quantum data base to follow tracks that have been inscribed and reinforced in the data base by the passage of past individuals. Subsequent generations simply pick up on and follow the imprinted track to travel, for instance, between their breeding grounds and wintering locations.
With Dr Jim Lyons help, we believe that we have established that the way that this communication with the database is established by the creation of standing waves that are generated by the mind probably in the pineal gland. Clearly magnetic interference causes important effects and really disrupts navigation. Do strong magnetic fields interfere with the brain function or does it interfere with the communication to the Universal Data Base just like static?
Both classic magnetic direction finding and inclination effects as well as the other ideas such long distance olfactory cues cannot be the whole answer as all have fundamental defects that fail to resolve key questions.