Homing pigeons develop local route stereotypy (original) (raw)

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Finding home: the final step of the pigeons' homing process studied with a GPS data logger

Journal of Experimental Biology, 2007

Experiments have shown that homing pigeons are able to develop navigational abilities even if reared and kept confined in an aviary, provided that they are exposed to natural winds. These and other experiments performed on inexperienced birds have shown that previous homing experiences are not necessary to determine the direction of displacement. While the cues used in the map process for orienting at the release site have been extensively investigated, the final step of the homing process has received little attention by researchers. Although there is general agreement on the relevance of visual cues in navigation within the home area, there is a lack of clear evidence. In order to investigate the final step of the homing process, we released pigeons raised under confined conditions and others that had been allowed to fly freely around the loft and compared their flight paths recorded with a Global-Positioning-System logger. Our data show that a limited view of the home area impair...

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Towards the map of the homing pigeon

The behaviour of pigeons, Columba livhT, homing from different sites was used to generate a geographical map based on empirical data. With the help of cluster analysis, release sites were grouped into clusters of sites according to similarities in the initial orientation of the pigeons when released. These similarities in initial orientation were assumed to reflect similarities in the information of the map component. The initial orientation of samples of pigeons was characterized by the length of the mean vector and the angular deviation of the mean vanishing direction from the home direction. According to this analysis the map information is distributed in distinct patches extending over several tens of kilometres. Exposing pigeons to air collected within one of these patches but releasing them after anaesthesia of their olfactory mucosae at a site opposite to the home loft within a different patch resulted in disorientation. This experiment, however, yielded significant differences between control and experimental pigeons within only two out of four distinct patches. This suggests that the map has an airborne component. Parts of the map, however, are based on other physical cues. How these 'landmarks' could be used for navigation even when the perception of one or the other component has been eliminated is discussed.

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Homing pigeons develop local route stereotypy (original) (raw)

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