Visual but not trigeminal mediation of magnetic compass information in a migratory bird

Manuela Zapka, Dominik Heyers, Christine M. Hein, Svenja Engels, Nils-Lasse Schneider, Jörg Hans, Simon Weiler, David Dreyer, Dmitry Kishkinev, J. Martin Wild and Henrik Mouritsen ()
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Manuela Zapka: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
Dominik Heyers: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
Christine M. Hein: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
Svenja Engels: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
Nils-Lasse Schneider: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
Jörg Hans: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
Simon Weiler: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
David Dreyer: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
Dmitry Kishkinev: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg
J. Martin Wild: Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Henrik Mouritsen: AG Neurosensorik/Animal Navigation, IBU, University of Oldenburg

Nature, 2009, vol. 461, issue 7268, 1274-1277

Abstract: Bird navigation: flying by eye How do birds find their way home? All agree that animals tap into Earth's magnetic field to create an internal 'compass' sense. But there agreement ends; some researchers promote the idea that magnetism is detected by magnetic bodies in the beak wired to the trigeminal nerve, others that magnetism is transduced through the eye via a complex light-sensitive mechanism. Support for the latter view, a role for the eye, comes from a neurosurgical and behavioural study of European robins. Birds with lesions in a brain centre called 'cluster N' are found deficient in magnetic orientation. And in this migratory species, at least, the putative magnetoreceptor in the beak plays no part in magnetic compass orientation.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08528

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