How Do Pigeons Always Find Home?

[00:00:00]What I wish I knew about navigation, [music] follow the pigeons, not Google. They find their way home across hundreds of miles. Here's how they do it. The proof scientists [music] use to prove it.

[00:00:12]Pigeons combine a few clever tricks to navigate [music] like pros.

[00:00:15]They use the sun as a compass to orient.

[00:00:18]An internal clock [music] translates sun angle into direction. They sense Earth's magnetic field like a built-in compass.

[00:00:25][music] Probably using magnetoreceptors in their beaks.

[00:00:29]And sensors in their eyes.

[00:00:32]They memorize [music] visual landmarks.

[00:00:34]They also smell the air to create an odor map.

[00:00:37]Proof?

[00:00:38]Classic experiments [music] showed this. Clock-shifted birds changed orientation.

[00:00:44]Scrambling [music] the sun cue flipped their headings.

[00:00:47]GPS trackers show straight, efficient routes after they learn an area. Sun, pigeons use sun position as a compass.

[00:00:54]Magnetic field [music] sensed with magnetoreceptors in beaks and eyes.

[00:00:59]Smells, odors help build an olfactory map for navigation. Street smarts, >> [music] >> memorized landmarks guide efficient routes through cities. Pigeon navigation, nailed.