Compass of messenger doves at the peak

2005/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia

The messenger doves (Columbia livia) recognize the magnetic field of the Earth and thanks to this they are oriented. These are the main conclusions of a research carried out in New Zealand, whose researchers claim to have total certainty.

The dove compass is a kind of small magnetic particle found inside the top beak of the doves to detect the magnetic field. And it is that with a magnet on the beak or anesthesia the beak was not able to orient the doves.

The main experiment was done by putting the doves into a wooden tube: when an affected magnetic field is detected, the researchers taught them to go to one side of the tube, and when there was no other magnetic field than that of the Earth, go to the other side of the tube.

On the other hand, researchers have also studied how this information reaches the brain and have seen that the path is the trigeminal nerve and not the smell, as some thought.