February 12 (UPI) – Dozens of studies have shown that many species, especially those that travel long distances, rely on the Earth’s magnetic fields to direct themselves.
It turns out, magnetic field lines not only act as guard rails or straight line guides for a bird migration route, they can also help birds that stray from the course get back on track.
For reedbeds, Earth’s geomagnetic signatures offer directional cues that keep them working far from home.
To better understand how birds regain their behavior after being blown off course in the middle of a migration, researchers held several bamboo teal captives for a few weeks before releasing them. -out them into the country and send them out to magnetic signatures places several miles away – far from their natural migration corridor.
Despite being let down to a place they were well acquainted with, a place that looked, melted and felt like home – because it was largely home – dh all the musicians left to embark on a flight journey flying as if they were leaving the place of imitation using faux magnetic field signatures.
Scientists set out their views in a new paper, published Friday in the journal Current Biology.
“The real stimulus was to respond to the magnetic information they were receiving,” study co-author Richard Holland, a researcher at Bangor University in Wales, said in a press release.
“What our current work is showing is that birds are able to sense that they are outside the confines of the magnetic fields they know from their year-round movements, and capable have distorted their position enough from the signals, “said Holland, a researcher at Bangor University in Wales.
This solemn ability allows birds to make their way back to their natural migration path when strong storms and atmospheric winds blow birds well of their favorite course.
Researchers call this capability “true navigation.”
“They will be able to return to a known goal after being moved to a completely unknown location without reliance on a familiar environment, destination issues, or information gathered through a trip out, “said lead author Dmitry Kishkinev, a researcher at Keele University in Britain.
Scientists have previously shown that bamboo growers can use magnetic glue to get around the natural environment. The latest findings show that the same navigation capabilities work in foreign areas.
But researchers say further studies are needed to determine if they are using something that is similar to map reading or more like compass reading.