spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by KIRSCHVINK, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by WESTPHAL, J. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by KIRSCHVINK, J. L.
Right arrow Articles by WESTPHAL, J. A.
Journal of Experimental Biology 120,1-24 (1986)
Published by Company of Biologists 1986

Evidence from Strandings for Geomagnetic Sensitivity in Cetaceans

JOSEPH L. KIRSCHVINK 1, ANDREW E. DIZON 2, and JAMES A. WESTPHAL 1

1 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA91125, U.S.A.
2 Southwest Fisheries Center, National Marine Fisheries Services, P. O. Box 271, Lajfolla.CA 92038, U.S.A.

We tested the hypothesis that cetaceans use weak anomalies in the geomagnetic field as cues for orientation, navigation and/or piloting. Using the positions of 212 stranding events of live animals in the Smith sonian compilation which fall within the boundaries of the USGS East-Coast Aeromagnetic Survey, we found that there are highly significant tendencies for cetaceans to beach themselves near coastal locations with local magnetic minima. Monte-Carlo simulations confirm the significance of these effects. These results suggest that cetaceans have a magnetic sensory systemcomparable to that in other migratory and homing animals, and predict that the magnetic topography and in particular the marine magnetic lineations may play an important role in guiding long-distance migration. The ‘map’ sense of migratoryanimals may therefore be largely based on a simple strategy of following paths of local magnetic minima and avoiding magnetic gradients.

Key words: cetaceans, navigation, geomagnetism

Accepted on August 6, 1985






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1986