This link is important as it gives you more information on the work done by David Keays et al, which proved that the magnetite particle array supposed to exist in the upper beak, creates a magnetic compass response mechanism for birds, does not exist.
As this article suggests the other candidate for magnetic response is a quantum effect in the cryptochromes in the birds eyes.
Richard Nissen
Editor
This site has been created to share information and invite you to contribute in order to see if we can find out how animals and humans navigate without aids. There has been a lot of academic work in this field which is difficult to follow without interpretation. We shall try to put as much of…
Please find this PDF which follows a lot of research on Albatrosses. This presentation throws up some really interesting issues. I feel comfortable that albatrosses when they decide to go home follow their sense of direction to their home islands in the South Atlantic: the Crozet Islands and Kerguelen as they fly straight there. However, please…
Migratory birds navigate with the help of the Earth’s magnetic field, but how do their compasses work? Peter Hore of Oxford University discusses whether quantum coherence and entanglement could be the answer. Click here for the full article: The Quantum Robin
Recent work at Bognor University by a team headed by Charles Bishop has shown they actually follow the contours as they fly from their breeding ground in the high lakes North of the Himalayas south over the Himalayas into the Indian sub continent See wikipedia for images and an overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar-headed_goose This is an interesting…
Every three years the Royal Institute of Navigation hosts a conference in the UK for everyone interested in Animal navigation. The next one is in 2016: RIN16 (Animal Navigation) 13/04/2016 12:00:00 to 15/04/2016 12:00:00 Royal Holloway College, London RIN16 Orientation & Navigation Birds, Humans & Other Animals will be the ninth International Conference on Animal…
Intro This site takes you into the world where technology is trying to understand animal migration by using tags and a sophisticated satellite system to follow routes taken by animals. Up until now tags have often been very heavy, or at least too heavy for a lot of tiny birds that make huge migrations such…