Date: April 4, 2019
Source: Forschungsverbund Berlin
Scientists
combined a mirror experiment simulating a different direction of the setting
sun and a new test procedure to measure orientation behavior in bats to
understand the role of the sun's position in the animals' navigation system.
The results demonstrate for the first time that a migratory mammal species uses
the sunset direction to calibrate their compass system.
Whether
it is bats, wildebeest or whales, millions of mammals move over thousands of
kilometres each year. How they navigate during migration remains remarkably
understudied compared to birds or sea turtles, however. A team of scientists
led by the Leibniz-IZW in Berlin now combined a mirror experiment simulating a
different direction of the setting sun and a new test procedure to measure
orientation behaviour in bats to understand the role of the sun's position in
the animals' navigation system. The results demonstrate for the first time that
a migratory mammal species uses the sunset direction to calibrate their compass
system. Furthermore the experiment, which is published in Current Biology,
indicates that this capacity is not inherited and first-time migrating young
bats need to learn the importance of the solar disc at dusk for nightly
orientation.
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