Pigeons are able to sense the magnetic field and use it to orient in space. However, a proof of magnetic compass learning by pigeons under laboratory conditions has been attempted for decades, but all experiments have failed so far. Now biopsychologists from Bochum and animal behavioral scientists from Frankfurt University aimed to test whether pigeons can learn magnetic compass directions in an operant chamber if magnetic cues are presented as true spatial cues. Experimental sessions were carried out in the local geomagnetic field and in magnetic fields with matched total intensity and inclination, but different directions generated with Helmholtz-coils. Birds demonstrated successful learning with a performance level comparable to that in learning studies with magnetic anomalies. Surprisingly, the most successful magnetic field learners in the lab were subsequently those that first took a detour in the field before flying to their loft. Did they first explore the territory before embarking on their voyage? In any way, these findings represent the first evidence for operant magnetic compass learning in pigeons and also provide a link between behavioural data from the field and the laboratory.

Wilzeck, C., Wiltschko, W., Güntürkün, O., Buschmann, J.-U., Wiltschko, R. and Prior, H., Learning of magnetic compass directions in pigeons, Animal Cogn., 2010, 13: 443-451.