It 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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