BioNav RIN 13

The Royal Institute of Navigation Conference RIN 13 – Bionav – is the world’s leading Animal Navigation conference took place at the Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham, Surrey, on 11-13 April 2013. 

Leading scientists from all over the world participated and presented their work. All areas of animal navigation techniques were covered, including, in some cases, their possible application to the control of autonomous vehicles.

Our editor Richard Nissen showed a poster which laid out a completely new approach to animal navigation and especially bird navigation developed by Jim Lyons and helped by Simon Raggett.  For further information please also see the handout

There were some fantastic presentations about insect navigation techniques of ants and bees all seemed to have important lessons for robot navigation.

With David Kaeys superb work showing that pigeons do not have magnetic particles on their beaks much effort has been spent looking at whether the Crypotchrome quantum free radical mechanism in the eye (studied by the Wiltshkos in the continental Robin) does in fact produce the compass information that birds need for navigation.

Groups from Pisa University  produced very interesting evidence that many sea birds  such as  Shearwaters seem to use olfactory cues to home

Miriam Liedvogel who has been elected chairman of The Animal Navigation Group explained more of her work on looking for the DNA markers that dictate migratory routes especially in willow warblers.