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First published online June 15, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 2300-2310 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.004853

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The magnetic compass of domestic chickens, Gallus gallus

Wolfgang Wiltschko^1,*, Rafael Freire², Ursula Munro³, Thorsten Ritz⁴, Lesley Rogers², Peter Thalau¹ and Roswitha Wiltschko¹

¹ FB Biowissenschaften, J. W. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, D-61231 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
² Centre for Neurosciences and Animal Behaviour, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
³ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-4575, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: wiltschko{at}bio.uni-frankfurt.de)

Accepted 16 April 2007

By directional training, young domestic chickens have been shown to use a magnetic compass; the same method has now been used to analyse the functional characteristics and the physical principles underlying the chickens' magnetic compass. Tests in magnetic fields with different intensities revealed a functional window around the intensity of the local geomagnetic field, with this window extending further towards lower than higher intensities. Testing chickens under monochromatic 465 nm blue and 645 nm red light suggested a wavelength dependence, with orientation possible under blue but not under red light. Exposing chickens to an oscillating field of 1.566 MHz led to disorientation, identifying an underlying radical pair mechanism. Local anesthesia of the upper beak, where iron-rich structures have been described as potential magnetoreceptors, did not affect the performance, suggesting that these receptors are not involved in compass orientation. These findings show obvious parallels to the magnetic compass described for European robins, indicating that chickens and small passerines use the same type of magnetic compass mechanism. This suggests that the avian magnetic compass may have evolved in the common ancestor of all present-day birds to facilitate orientation within the home range.

Key words: directional training, magnetic compass, functional window, radical pair mechanism, Gallus gallus, domestic chicken