The mystery of how homing pigeons are able to know the position and direction of the home has now been revealed. A new research shows that the bird is using low-frequency sound waves to create a mental map of their location.
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| Two homing pigeons setting off together on the journey back to the loft. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/) |
The findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, January 30, 2013, may explain why the navigator reliably it can sometimes get lost. The research team suspected low-frequency waves from the location of the bird when it does not reach their homes.
Mystery misled pigeon was studied from four decades ago. In 1969, a professor of biology at Cornell University reported that carrier pigeons were released at Jersey Hill could not find a way home, but usually the bird can come back with amazing accuracy even taken to other locations. At two other locations, the bird always flying in the wrong direction. In several subsequent attempts, carrier pigeons get home, but the next few days getting lost again.
Geologists from the United States Geology Survey (USGS), John Hagstrum, curious to hear the report. In the 1990s, he found that the participants a bird pigeon racing in Europe was lost on a sunny day when the Concorde supersonic aircraft passes in the area. Because of that, he thought the plane supersonic waves disrupt navigation dove for damaging sound waves.
Hagstrum estimates, pigeons use infrasound for navigation. The reason, the dove hear low-frequency sound waves around 0.1 Hertz. Infrasound waves may come from the ocean and creates a small disturbance in the atmosphere. "If the sound is combined with a topography, the bird may actually see the topography around their house acoustically," he said. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | KORAN TEMPO 4130]
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