Birds Have A ‘Sixth Sense’ And Can Feel Earth’s Magnetic Field
MessageToEagle.com – Birds have an extraordinary ability to sense Earth’s magnetic field. This helps them to fly home from unfamiliar places and migrate, crossing entire continents.
This ability is referred to by scientists as “magnetoreception” and can be described as a ‘sixth sense’ that birds use in their daily lives.
It has long been a scientific puzzle how birds can see magnetic fields, but scientists think they have an answer now.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have identified a protein in birds’ eye called Cry4. Without this protein birds probably would not be able to orient themselves using the Earth’s magnetic field.
Cry4 is part of a class of proteins called cryptochromes, which are known to be involved in circadian rhythms, or biological sleep cycles.
According to Atticus Pinzon-Rodriguez, a doctoral student and lead author of the study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the protein’s quantum interactions could help birds sense the magnetic field.
A sensitive quantum-mechanical compass can be used regardless of the time of day.
See also:
Humans Have Between 9 to 21 Senses In Total – Aristotle Was Wrong To Claim We Have Only Five Senses
A Closer Look At Magnetospheres: Planetary Shields
Monster Bird ‘Kumimanu’ Was A Giant Penguin That Reached Human Height
Dark DNA Phenomenon – One Of The Strangest Discoveries So Far
The findings by the Lund team were supported by another group based at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg in Germany, which arrived at similar results after studying the presence of Cry4 in robins.
Studies showed that not only migratory birds navigate using a magnetic compass. Even resident birds that do not migrate in the spring and autumn have a magnetic sense and navigate using their internal magnetic compass.
Interestingly, researchers also suggest that other animals, perhaps all of them may have magnetic receptors and can pick up on magnetic fields.
A lot of research remains in order to map in detail how animals discover and use the Earth’s magnetic field. What is clear is that it involves chemical reactions that interact with magnetic fields. According to Atticus Pinzón-Rodríguez, this knowledge may be of use when developing new navigation systems.
MessageToEagle.com
Related Posts
-
Jewel Of The Forest: New Electric Blue Tarantula Species Found In Thailand
No Comments | Sep 22, 2023 -
Do Collisions Between Tropical Islands And Continents Trigger An Ice Age?
No Comments | Apr 15, 2019 -
Are The Dark Nazi Secrets Buried In Remote Argentinian Jungle?
No Comments | Mar 25, 2015 -
Songbirds Sing Like Humans, New Study
No Comments | Jan 13, 2016 -
The Abyssal World: The Last Terra Incognita Of The Earth’s Surface
No Comments | Feb 5, 2022 -
Planet X May Exist – Extremely Distant Object Discovered Far Beyond Pluto
No Comments | Oct 2, 2018 -
Earthquakes In Central And Eastern United States Linked To Hydraulic Fracturing Wells
No Comments | Apr 28, 2019 -
Black Plants Could Exist On Alien Worlds With Two Suns
No Comments | Dec 8, 2015 -
Dangerous Heated Ocean Discovered Hidden Under The Arctic
No Comments | Aug 30, 2018 -
Secretful Diablo Pyramid Sheds Light On The Mysterious Maya Sun God With Many Faces
No Comments | Apr 12, 2014