Two groups of pigeons, one with poor homing experience and the other with wider experience, were displaced beyond the Alps from their loft near Florence and released near Würzburg in northern Bavaria (680 km north of loft). To test the role of olfactory stimuli perceived during the outward journey, each group was divided into experimentals, which were prevented from smelling during transportation, and controls, which had unplugged nostrils. Initial orientation was consistently influenced by a strong preferred compass direction, but some significant differences between controls and experimentals were recorded. The distribution of the recovery sites shows that only the controls in the group with wider experience flew homeward. These results show that, beyond certain range limits, pigeons are unable to use local stimuli to navigate and appear to rely only on olfactory information gathered during the outward journey. © 1981 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
On The Spatial Range Of Pigeon Navigation
FOA', Augusto Giuseppe Lorenzo
1981
Abstract
Two groups of pigeons, one with poor homing experience and the other with wider experience, were displaced beyond the Alps from their loft near Florence and released near Würzburg in northern Bavaria (680 km north of loft). To test the role of olfactory stimuli perceived during the outward journey, each group was divided into experimentals, which were prevented from smelling during transportation, and controls, which had unplugged nostrils. Initial orientation was consistently influenced by a strong preferred compass direction, but some significant differences between controls and experimentals were recorded. The distribution of the recovery sites shows that only the controls in the group with wider experience flew homeward. These results show that, beyond certain range limits, pigeons are unable to use local stimuli to navigate and appear to rely only on olfactory information gathered during the outward journey. © 1981 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
