Category Archives: Animal Migration

Magnetic Compass Orientation

Posted on 5 June 2021 by Richard Nissen

This paper is a very good overview of the thinking about avian migratory navigation and acknowledges that birds use all the cues that are available to them to navigate successfully. Magnetic Compass Orientation in a Palaearctic–Indian Night Migrant, the Red-Headed … Continue reading →

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Dolphins and Bats: Superpower

Posted on 5 April 2021 by Richard Nissen

Dolphins and bats don’t have much in common, but they share a superpower: Both hunt their prey by emitting high-pitched sounds and listening for the echoes. Now, a study shows that this ability arose independently in each group of mammals … Continue reading →

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Investigating factors influencing initial orientation in nocturnally fledging seabirds

Posted on 1 December 2020 by Richard Nissen

Please note that Tom Guildford is a very important Animal Navigation professor working at Oxford University.  Manx Shearwaters have been extensively studied as they have amazing navigational skills but do not seems to rely on magnetism. Richard NissenEditor This is … Continue reading →

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Magnetoreception – the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field

Posted on 16 November 2020 by Richard Nissen

David Keays is one of the mega stars of animal navigation research and has spent a life time trying to work out how magnetism might work. Here is a summary of his latest work: Magnetoreception is the ability to sense … Continue reading →

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Eyes are essential for magnetoreception in a mammal

Posted on 9 October 2020 by Richard Nissen

Here is another interesting paper: Mole-rat lives underground and basically cannot see and is often studied to understand how they navigate. Caspar, K. R., Moldenhauer, K., Moritz, R. E., Němec, P., Malkemper, E. P. & Begall, S. 2020 Eyes are essential … Continue reading →

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Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

Posted on 6 July 2020 by Richard Nissen

There has always been huge uncertainty as to how migrating animals learn where to go.  The cuckoo is a perfect example, as the newly hatched birds must travel from Europe to The Congo Basin for the winter, but how do … Continue reading →

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The “V” formation of flying geese

Posted on 25 January 2020 by Richard Nissen

A recent piece of work by a team lead by A. . Kölzsch from Germany tracked a family of Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)  This goose is a great migrator and winters (December to February) in Western Europe where the … Continue reading →

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