Pigeons use olfactory cues to navigate
1989; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 1; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/08927014.1989.9525511
ISSN1828-7131
Autores Tópico(s)Insect Pheromone Research and Control
ResumoThe main results achieved by research work on pigeon olfactory navigation are reviewed and discussed, taking into account different interpretations and a recent critical review by K. SCHMIDT-KOENIG. Crucial experiments demonstrating that anosmic birds are heavily impaired in homing from unfamiliar sites have been reported by different authors from different laboratories. In addition, initial orientation is disturbed by anosmia over unfamiliar areas; the claim that, in some environmental and training conditions, pigeons develop a non-olfactory navigational mechanism could not be confirmed in the most recent experiments. The experiments performed a) by preventing birds from smelling during the outward journey and/or at the release site, b) by transporting the birds by a circuitous way, and c) by allowing birds to perceive atmospheric odours at a site different from that of release, all yielded results which form a coherent picture as to how pigeons use local odours to fix their position with respect to home. Pigeons acquire the map which allows olfactory navigation by associating windborne odours with the direction from which they reach the loft. Interpretations have been made of these results that challenge this conclusion, but they conflict with the most recent experiments, which show that the information carried by the winds is olfactory in nature and that pigeons extract directional information from atmospheric odours.
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