Navigation

How Do Animals Know Where They Are, and Navigate Their Environment?

Navigation is the most complex form of spatial awareness and requires the animal to have a sense of its physical surroundings, and a mechanism by which to orientate itself within those surroundings. As such, navigation is something undertaken only by more complex animals.

There are three types of orientation used by animals for navigation behaviours:

  • Pilotage - Moving along a particular course by recognising familiar landmarks along that course.
  • Compass Orientation - Being able to head in a particular compass direction (eg. north or south) without referring to any landmarks. Some animals are capable of detecting subtle geomagnetic affects (like a magnetic compass)
  • True Navigation - Being able to target a position which cannot be seen, and move toward that position without using landmarks and regardless of the direction. Eg. Homing pigeons can fly in any direction toward their home, irrespective of its compass orientation

Navigation behaviours may be affected by any, or many of the following:

  • Air pressure
  • Infrasound (inaudible to humans)
  • Geomagnetic radiation
  • Odour
  • Position of the sun
  • Position of stars
  • Polarised light
  • Physical landmarks

Learn more about animal behaviour .... click here

[22/05/2012 13:55:19]