Archive for the ‘Wildlife’ Category

Homing pigeons are the original sat-navs!

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

SNN0517A_124638aIt has been an aged-old mystery why pigeons always find their way home. Even if at times they head off to the wrong directions at the start of the flight, they still manage to return to where they took off, puzzling cultures and scientists all over the world for a very long time.
Researchers at the University of Auckland recently announced that the mystery has now been solved, saying homing pigeons follows magnetic fields around the earth for routes of their flight, and doing the same to find their way home.
Pushing further that the homing pigeons are probably the first satellite navigators, the Auckland scientists said the pigeons have a unique global positioning technology built into their system. The results of the research further state that such ability of the homing pigeons is like an orientation of map-and-compass where a pigeon first figure out its surrounding then fly off and find guide to take themselves home.
Furthermore, it has been published that homing pigeons’ beaks have magnetic particles that act like a compass, providing the birds with an accurate sense of direction. Not only that, the beak reacts to the earth’s external magnetic fields with such high sensitivity and specific manner so they always get the locations right.
Another mystery the researchers have answers for is the question of pigeons flying off in the wrong directions. It showed that the birds are doing this not as a random act but as a helpful method of knowing the magnetic fields and its contour lines,
The researchers also surmise that such proven theory is not limited to homing pigeons alone, but most likely with other birds and some animals which are influenced by the magnetic fields of our planet.

Find out more about the featured article from these resources:
Telegraph
sciencecentric.com

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Puffins get sat-navs to determine population decline

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

fluffin puffinWhat could be more alarming than seeing over 35,000 drop of the Puffins’ numbers in just five years! Now with the latest satellite navigation technology, these birds from the Isle of May and Farne Islands off the Northumberland Coast can now render information regarding their decrease.
Very little has been known about the birds’ reaction to climate change, pollution controls and how their natural cycle of life. But with the new sat-nav systems to be fitted to around 30 puffins, any retrieved information from the GPS data on the birds should give many clues and answers. The tags are similar to tom-tom devices for vehicles and it stores back-data and then retrieves the tag.
Apart from the usual GPS tags, the birds will also be fitted with time-depth recorders for their diving patterns and reactions to sea temperatures. Scientists are also hoping to get a view of the puffins’ feeding grounds and other areas where they are exposed to get any indication of its effect on the untimely deaths of the birds. The sat-nav will also collect data particularly on the sand eels which are the puffins’ main food source, and how the eels’ migration to the cooler waters has been a huge detriment to the new diet of the birds. Also, the system will look into why the puffins are not returning to the islands for breeding and to nest, and if indeed their winter activities are largely to question about their fast disappearance.
The sat-nav will cover all aspects of how puffins float, swim and dive for food, and return to land during their nesting season, and data retrieved will be processed at the Newcastle University. Scientists are hoping they will soon have the answers and provide the public with the latest developments of the Puffins population decline.
Find out more about the featured article from these resources:
Telegraph

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