Pigeons Navigate Using Magnetic Sensors in Livers
- On Thursday, researchers published a study in the journal Science identifying iron-rich immune cells in the pigeon liver as functioning like an internal compass for navigation.
- Zoologists have suspected for almost 100 years that birds rely on Earth's magnetism for navigation, but previous theories proposed sensing occurred through light-sensitive molecules in the eyes or beak structures.
- Researchers trained 34 pigeons to fly a 12-mile route through the German countryside; those with depleted macrophages could not return home on overcast days, but flew directly back when the sun emerged.
- Clivia Lisowski of the University of Bonn suggests this mechanism represents a new layer of 'immuno-sensation,' with iron-rich cells lying near nerve fibers to transmit magnetic information directly to the brain.
- Neuroethologist John Phillips of Virginia Tech says "there are certainly going to be nonbelievers," though he notes the science is compelling; future research must clarify how signals transfer to the brain.
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Pigeons’ Liver May Contain a Magnetic Sensor That Guides Navigation
A group of homing pigeons in flight. Credit: Spanishguitar101 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 How pigeons find their way home across hundreds of miles has puzzled scientists for decades. A new study published in the journal Science suggests the answer may lie in an unexpected organ: the liver. Researchers found that specialized immune cells in pigeon livers may act as magnetic sensors, helping the birds detect Earth’s magnetic field and navig…
A carrier pigeon usually always arrives home. In the past, carrier pigeons brought important messages, but now pigeon owners compete to see whose bird is the fastest.
A remarkable new study suggests pigeons may navigate using their liver — solving a decades-long mystery about how birds find their way home across hundreds of miles by pointing to an organ no one had been looking at
A study published today in Science proposes that homing pigeons may sense the Earth’s magnetic field using iron-loaded immune cells in their livers. The paper, by a team led by cell biologist Clivia Lisowski at the University of Bonn with senior authors Christian Kurts (Bonn) and Martin Wikelski (Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell), is the first to present a full theoretical account of how immune cells could perform magnetic s…
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