QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online October 10, 2003

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mouritsen, H. Articles by Anderson, D. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Mouritsen, H. Articles by Anderson, D. J.

The Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 4155-4166 (2003)
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00650

Waved albatrosses can navigate with strong magnets attached to their head

Henrik Mouritsen^1,*, Kathryn P. Huyvaert², Barrie J. Frost³ and David J. Anderson⁴

¹ Fachbereich Biologie, University of Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
² Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St Louis, St Louis MO 63121-4499, USA
³ Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 2Y1
⁴ Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7325, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: henrik.mouritsen{at}uni-oldenburg.de)

Accepted 6 August 2003

The foraging excursions of waved albatrosses Phoebastria irrorata during incubation are ideally suited for navigational studies because they navigate between their Galápagos breeding site and one specific foraging site in the upwelling zone of Peru along highly predictable, straight-line routes. We used satellite telemetry to follow free-flying albatrosses after manipulating magnetic orientation cues by attaching magnets to strategic places on the birds' heads. All experimental, sham-manipulated and control birds, were able to navigate back and forth from Galápagos to their normal foraging sites at the Peruvian coast over 1000 km away. Birds subjected to the three treatments did not differ in the routes flown or in the duration and speed of the trips. The interpretations and implications of this result depend on which of the current suggested magnetic sensory mechanisms is actually being used by the birds.

Key words: waved albatross, Phoebastria irrorata, navigation, magnetic orientation, satellite telemetry

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. A. Nevitt Sensory ecology on the high seas: the odor world of the procellariiform seabirds J. Exp. Biol., June 1, 2008; 211(11): 1706 - 1713. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Alerstam Conflicting evidence about long-distance animal navigation. Science, August 11, 2006; 313(5788): 791 - 794. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]