Do animals really use magnetism?

[Tiny]

Do animals really use magnetism in any interesting way to navigate? e.g Brids, such as Pigeon, Owl etc...

[damienpaul]

I believe so, here is an article that may be of interest:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...06_lobster.html

http://soma.npa.uiuc.edu/courses/physl490b...oreception.html

[Tiny]

>< cant believe sea turtle can use magnetism... :blink:

[DippyHippy]

Birds certainly do although I&#39;m not sure if anyone has proven *how* yet...

[damienpaul]

I read an article a while back that sonar and underwater electromagnetic devises play havoc on marine life - perhaps this is prrof in part for the animals in the sea.

Have you seen the scene in the movie &#39;the core&#39; where the birds go haywire, that was apparantly based on research - but once again i have forgotten where.

[Matthew]

Humans may have too, a long time ago. I think we had a sensor in the bridge of our nose, if I remember the article correctly.

[degeneration]

There was a news article in the Daily Mirror or Daily Mail yesterday about this and pigeons.

It stated that a University team had been using GPS on some pigeons for quite a while studying their movement and how they travel from A to B. It said that on their first trip from A to B, and possibly back again (can&#39;t remember that part) they use their own built in compass thing... but on repeat trips you&#39;ll never guess how they go from A to B...






They follow the roads&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; The pigeons have been found to follow motorways, go right at roundabouts where necessary etc... apparently because the roads are more recognisable structures they are easier for the pigeons to remember, so even if it adds km on to their journey, they&#39;ll still follow the roads&#33;&#33;&#33;

Sounds crazy, but was in the paper yesterday, and was the results of some University&#39;s study&#33;