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Avian Navigation System
The avian navigation system is rather complex, based on many factors, and it even used two aspects of the magnetic field. If, in a given situation, one can show that the receptors in the beak have no effect, that does not mean that they do not have one in another situation! Anaesthesia of the upper…
Migratory Songbird
Phenotypic response to environmental cues, orientation and migration costs in songbirds flying halfway around the world by Heiko Schmaljohann et al. A polar system of intercontinental bird migration by Prof Thomas Alerstam et al. Cross-hemisphere migration of a 25 g songbird by Franz Bairlein et al. One of our heroes Prof Tomas Alerstam has directed us to this fascinating paper by Heiko…
The energy and mechanisms needed for cryptochrome navigation
At the RIN 13 animal navigation conference there was a lot about bird navigation and particularly, the Continental Robin, Erithacus rubecula which it is proposed, navigates through the action of the cryptochromes in their eyes which are disrupted by radical pairs caused by the effect of a magnetic field. This means that in theory they…
New Study Fuels Debate About Source of Birds’ Magnetic Sense
This link gives you a very good overview of the latest arguments about whether Cryptochromes, which are sensitive to magnetic fields and exist in the eyes of birds, help with their navigation. All the great and good involved in this field are quoted. I personally do not think that the quantum effects in a Cryptochrome…
The Compass Within – Sense of direction
Article in Nature volume 18 number 4 April 2015 This is a very important piece of work which begins to bring us to an understanding how a sense of direction works and which is NOT magnetic based. We at animalnav.org know that this “sense of direction” must be crucial for navigation so Simon Raggett’s (one…
Magnetoreception and the ruling hypothesis
This paper is fascinating. This site has always been sceptical about Magnetoreception – the magnetic navigation story for the same reasons that are discussed here. No-one has found the magnetic receptors. the cryptochrome story requires conditions in the eye that are not conducive to quantum effects and knowing where North is does not help without…