Cognitive Maps and Navigation in Homing Pigeons

It is an obvious necessity for all animals that have some kind of “home” to be able to orient within their home range, i.e. between their home, suitable food sources, water etc.. This allows fast and efficient movements which will minimize the time and energy expenditure and help to reduce the periods in which the animals are exposed to predation. Hence it is not surprising that orientational abilities have been found in many species of vertebrates, social insects and numerous other invertebrates (see Schmidt-Koenig 1975). But the most outstanding performances have been reported from birds. Migrating birds fly to their distant wintering areas and return to last year’s breeding territory often after completing a journey of several thousand kilometers. Homing pigeons are able to return to their home after passive displacement of several hundreds of kilometers into completely unknown territory.

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