====== Pigeon navigation ======

Homing pigeons can very reliably find their way back to their adopted roosting place - even when they have been physically removed hundreds of kilometres away - and often without any knowledge of the removal route.

It's known that they use a variety of methods to navigate - including

  * Detection of the Earth's magnetic field (see [[content:life_sciences:zoology:magnetoreception]])
  * Olfactory clues
  * Star patterns (at night)
  * Visual 'map' memories, 
  * Ambient light polarisation
  * Low-frequency sound identification
  * Landmark following (e.g. man-made roads etc)

No consensus exists amongst biologists, however, regarding which systems dominate, their interactions, and how the birds maintain the extreme accuracy that they have.

See : [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homing_pigeon#Navigation|Wikipedia]]

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Also see [[content:life_sciences:zoology:turtle_migration|Marine Turtle Migration]] and [[content:life_sciences:zoology:monarch_migration]]