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Animal Navigation Model

Antonio Nafarrate, one of our associate editors has sent his latest thinking: I am very interested in how so much of what he presents here fits with other pieces in our puzzle to understand how Animal Navigation might work Richard Nissen editor I have some new ideas that may connect my Animal Navigation Model with…

Our co-editor Antonio Nafarrate has recently written these remarks 

Following the 2016 Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) Conference on “Animal Navigation”, Dr. Painter claims that after some 50 years of work, the Magnetic “mechanism is not fully understood”. In my judgment, it will never be, because there is no such mechanism. The Geomagnetic Field (GMF) is only a minor perturbation to the true navigational…

Mathematical analysis of the homing flights of pigeons based on GPS tracks

Ingo Schiffner At the RIN 11 Animal Navigation Conference Ingo Schiffner, presented a paper: Mathematical Analysis of Pigeon Tracks, characterisation of the underlying Navigational Process and now he has produced another paper covering Mathematical analysis of the homing fights of pigeons based on GPS tracks.  For me,  this work begins to create an underlying mathematical basis…

How do animals keep from getting lost?

Showcased at the Royal Institute of Navigation is this interesting piece on animal migration. Maura O’Connor is a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn. Her first book is: “Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things,” from St. Martin’s Press. She is currently at work on a second book – an exploration of navigation traditions, neuroscience, and…

Cuckoo Migration

Cuckoo Migration is one of the great mysteries and to date there is still no agreement on how Cuckoos find their way to the Congo for the winter starting from different locations in Europe.   The team at Copenhagen University under Prof Kasper Thorup have been  able to tag fledgling cuckoos to follow their migration….

Long-Distance Nocturnal Navigator

Warrant11 2016 Here is a fascinating paper about The Australian Bogong Moth Agrotis infusa: which is the most amazing  Long-Distance Nocturnal Navigator.  As they navigate at night their feat is perhaps even more amazing than the migration of the Monarch butterfly in the USA. Richard Nissen editor Warrant E, Frost B, Green K, Mouritsen H, Dreyer D, Adden A, Brauburger K and Heinze S (2016) The Australian…