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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

View larger version (11K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Testing for a functional window: pooled number of choices of the four screens in magnetic fields with different intensities, with the direction of the magnetically correct choice (mcc) projected upward. Arrowheads indicate samples with a significant preference of an axis; rounded ends and a ring around the centre indicate random choices (for numerical data, see Table 1).

View larger version (15K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Testing for the physical principle underlying the chickens' magnetic compass: pooled number of choices of the four screens in the control field (left column of diagrams) and various treatments, with the direction of the magnetically correct choice (mcc) projected upward. Arrowheads indicate samples with a significant preference of an axis; rounded ends and a ring around the centre indicate random choices. Top row, test under different light regimes; centre row, oscillating field of 1.566 MHz of two different intensities added; bottom row, iron-containing structures in the upper beak deactivated by local anesthesia (for numerical data, see Table 2).