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Journal of Experimental Biology 170,127-141 (1992)
Published by Company of Biologists 1992

Pigeons at Magnetic Anomalies: The Effects of Loft Location

CHARLES WALCOTT ¹

¹ Cornell University, The Laboratory of Ornithology and Section of Neurobiology and Behavior, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA

Homing pigeons from our old lofts at Fox Ridge Farm in Lincoln, MA, were disoriented when released at places where the earth's magnetic field was irregular-so-called ‘magnetic anomalies’. The orientation of pigeons raised in our lofts at Cornell in Ithaca, NY, was unaffected by anomalies. Further experiments in Lincoln showed that sibling pigeons raised and trained to lofts only 2.5 km apart behaved differently when released at a strong magnetic anomaly. Pigeons from the loft situated in a magnetic gradient of 450 nT km^-1 were disoriented at anomalies, whereas birds raised in a loft in a magnetic gradient of 88nT km^-1 were well oriented. This suggests that the location of the home loft may play an important role in determining which cues pigeons use for their navigation, and that these cues are learned sometime after weaning from their parents at 4-6 weeks after hatching.

Key words: pigeon homing, magnetic field, loft location, magnetic anomaly, Columba livia

Accepted on May 7, 1992

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