Bird Navigation: Has Olfactory Orientation Solved the Problem?

Among the hypotheses advanced during the past 40 years to explain bird navigation, the hypothesis of olfactory navigation is currently the focus of attention. The mosaic-map model and the gradient-map model are two operationally different forms of this hypothesis. The necessary olfactory capacities on the part of the bird to discriminate subtle environmental odors qualitatively (mosaic map) or quantitatively (gradient map) have not yet been demonstrated. A number of experiments with homing pigeons (Columba livia), designed to test the olfactory hypotheses, are discussed. Some seemingly positive results have turned out to have non-olfactory causes (deflector aviary experiments). Other results are not in agreement with respective predictions (certain types of shielding), or are inconsistent or ambiguous (detours, multi-cur or selected-cue deprivation during transport, ventilation at the release site). Some unidentified airborne factor has been shown to have a partial role in homing. Olfactory navigation as hypothesized, however, has not been convincingly demonstrated. According to a recent analysis, meterological realities preclude navigation on the basis of olfactory gradients or mosaic maps. Since anosmic birds can home successfully, olfactory navigation, even if its existences is confirmed in some form, may not be the universal solution to the navigation problem.

[1]  Inversion of the Magnetic Field During Transport: Its Influence on the Homing Behavior of Pigeons* , 1978 .

[2]  H. G. Wallraff,et al.  Homing Experiments with Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) Subjected to Olfactory Nerve Section , 1982 .

[3]  William T. Keeton,et al.  The Orientational and Navigational Basis of Homing in Birds , 1974 .

[4]  H. G. Wallraff,et al.  On the spatial range of pigeon navigation , 1981 .

[5]  W. Wiltschko,et al.  Distribution of Release-Site Biases Around Frankfurt a.M., Germany , 1982 .

[6]  Donald M. Windsor,et al.  Regional expression of directional preferences by experienced homing pigeons , 1975, Animal Behaviour.

[7]  J. Kiepenheuer,et al.  Pigeon Orientation: A Preliminary Evaluation of Factors Involved or Not Involved in the Deflector Loft Effect , 1982 .

[8]  K. Schmidt-Koenig,et al.  Tracks of pigeons homing with frosted lenses , 1978, Animal Behaviour.

[9]  B. G. Bang,et al.  Functional anatomy of the olfactory system in 23 orders of birds. , 1971, Acta anatomica.

[10]  Hans Georg Wallraff,et al.  Avian Navigation , 1982, Proceedings in Life Sciences.

[11]  H. G. Wallraff Migration and navigation in birds: A present-state survey with some digressions to related fish behaviour , 1984 .

[12]  J. Phillips,et al.  Pigeon Homing: New Experiments Involving Permanent-Resident Deflector-Loft Birds , 1982 .

[13]  K. Schmidt-Koenig,et al.  Further Experiments on the Olfactory Hypothesis of Pigeon Homing , 1978 .

[14]  N. E. Baldaccini,et al.  Pigeon Homing: Effect of Altered Magnetic Field During Displacement on Initial Orientation , 1982 .

[15]  C. Walcott Magnetic orientation in homing pigeons , 1980 .

[16]  Kenneth P. Able,et al.  5 – Mechanisms of Orientation, Navigation, and Homing* , 1980 .

[17]  Frank C. Whitmore,et al.  A Preliminary Study of a Physical Basis of Bird Navigation , 1947 .

[18]  S. Cobb,et al.  The Size of the Olfactory Bulb in 108 Species of Birds , 1968 .

[19]  R. Beason,et al.  Magnetic orientation and magnetically sensitive material in a transequatorial migratory bird , 1984, Nature.

[20]  Hans Georg Wallraff,et al.  Preferred compass directions in initial orientation of homing pigeons , 1978 .

[21]  B. M. Wenzel Functional Status and Credibility of Avian Olfaction , 1982 .

[22]  K. Schmidt-Koenig,et al.  Local Anesthesia of the Olfactory Membrane and Homing in Pigeons , 1978 .

[23]  K. Schmidt-Koenig Avian orientation and navigation , 1979 .

[24]  N. E. Baldaccini,et al.  Pigeon Orientation: Experiments on the Role of Olfactory Stimuli Perceived During the Outward Journey , 1982 .

[25]  P. Ioalé Pigeon Homing: Effects of Differential Shielding of Home Cages , 1982 .

[26]  K. Schmidt-Koenig Elements of Bird Navigation , 1984 .

[27]  W. Keeton,et al.  The mystery of pigeon homing. , 1974, Scientific American.

[28]  Pigeon homing: Further experiments on shielded lofts , 1983 .

[29]  Hans Georg Wallraff,et al.  Über die Flugrichtungen verfrachteter Brieftauben in Abhängigkeit vom Heimatort und vom Ort der Freilassung , 1970 .

[30]  G. Matthews. Sun Navigation in Homing Pigeons , 1953 .

[31]  F. Papi Olfaction and Homing in Pigeons: Ten Years of Experiments , 1982 .

[32]  J. Phillips,et al.  Reflected Light Cues Generate the Short-Term Deflector-Loft Effect , 1982 .

[33]  W. Wiltschko,et al.  Effect of Outward Journey in an Altered Magnetic Field on the Orientation of Young Homing Pigeons , 1978 .

[34]  H. G. Wallraff,et al.  Long-distance releases to determine the spatial range of pigeon navigation , 1983 .

[35]  Klaus Schmidt-Koenig,et al.  ON THE ROLE OF THE LOFT, THE DISTANCE AND SITE OF RELEASE IN PIGEON HOMING (THE "CROSS-LOFT EXPERIMENT") , 1963 .