'It has also been identified in some primate species including the Bornean orangutan. The intense olfactory ability of dogs is also likely to assist location awareness – my own dogs appear to 'smell' the beach miles before we actually see it. This latter ability to exploit geomagnetic information is significant, as it is unlikely to be affected by weather conditions, cycles of light and dark, seasonality or global position in the same way that other cues might be affected.īut just how did Pero find his way home? It is likely that many animals, including dogs, navigate using an integration of many of the internal systems and external signals mentioned above.ĭogs are also very reward driven – so positive associations with particular places or people are likely to result in a desire to return. The homesick herder had miraculously navigated his way home on an epic journey that averaged 20 miles a day So, is this navigation skill because of 'personal bonds' between owner and dog, or is there a scientific understanding of the biology involved? The deep relationship between people and their dogs also seems to drive a desire to believe that there is something magical about this ability. Without speculating over whether the dog had been simply dropped off at the farm by someone who recognised him, these sorts of tales apparently prove the remarkable nature of animal instincts. Stories like that of Pero's often attract media interest, leaving readers puzzled over how an animal can travel so far. In a real-life story reminiscent of 'Lassie Come Home', Pero somehow navigated about 240 miles in two weeks. Significantly, his microchip confirmed this was not a case of mistaken identity, this young sheepdog really had made it back to his first home. Pero managed to find his way from Cockermouth in Cumbria back to his previous home, near Aberystwyth, on the coast of mid Wales. In April, the story of Pero, an adventurous four-year-old working sheepdog was reported. However, evidence now suggests that a vast array of species, from beetles to birds to dogs, demonstrate amazing abilities to travel long distances, without the use of electronic GPS – something many humans have perhaps become over-reliant upon. Science has been slow to fully identify and understand the processes and cues involved in animal migration. Parasitic nematode worms are capable of moving towards new hosts by responding to seismic vibrations and other species use vibrations for prey capture.īats, birds and marine mammals can also identify location and travel with the help of sonar and infrasound, while visual landmarks appear critical for species such as ourselves. In addition to a 'magnetic compass', birds also appear to use sun and star 'compasses' for navigation. Other species such as sea turtles, some amphibians, spiny lobsters and birds are able to use magnetic positional information to migrate or orientate towards specific target locations. Honeybees appear able to recall routes to feeding sites when exposed to scent from that location. A huge variety of animals use a number of different sensory systems in order to travel distances.ĭesert ants, for example, use environmental olfactory cues and odour plumes – clouds of scent dispersed by the wind moving odour molecules – to navigate their way both to food sources and back to their nests.
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