Clarifying the behavior of domestic pigeons

1998/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia

German scientists have claimed that domestic pigeons, anywhere in the world, "learn" the journey of the sun by adjusting their particular compass.

Researchers at the University of Frankfurt knew beforehand that pigeons knew the situation of the sun, the time of day and the relationship between geographical direction. But the question they asked among them was this, how do pigeons of the northern hemisphere orient themselves in the southern hemisphere, just where the path of the sun is just the opposite?

To clarify the doubts, they took the group of pigeons and went to New Zealand. There the “indoor clocks” of some pigeons were modified, so they were kept in a closed room with controlled lighting for five days and a six-hour advance to the pigeons was established. When they were released, the pigeons who had exchanged the “inner clocks” took a wrong direction and the others were straight.