Pigeon brain to contains “GPS neurons”

How do the pigeons navigate? That appears to be a question which puzzled people for quite long time.

Pigeons brains seem to feature GPS neurons used for navigation in Earth’s magnetic field

Scientists have identified a group of 53 cells inside pigeons brain aimed at reacting to the direction and intensity of Earth’s magnetic field.

These new “GPS neurons” appear to uncover how magnetic information is processed in the pigeons’ brains.

David Dickman of the Baylor College of Medicine in the United States conducted an experiment in which the birds were trapped, while the magnetic field around them was modified both in intensity and direction. The researcher believes that 53 brain cells are affected by the magnetic field, and for that reason he planned to study each neuron.
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Every nerve cell responded differently to changes of the magnetic field and provided information similar to a tridimensional compass, a phenomenon that normally allows pigeons to estimate the position e.g. up-down, forward-backward.

Furthermore each GPS neuron responded differently to the intensity of the magnetic field, the strongest response being recorded for Earth’s natural magnetic field.

A series of assumptions about the abilities of birds to respond to the magnetic field refer to the possible existence of small metal particles in the noses or beaks. Also, these metals may exist in the inner ear.

Another idea holds that the magnetic sensitivity is given by receptors positioned in the eyes of the pigeons. When exposed to light, some molecules called cryptochromes undergo rapid changes in their atomic structure due to the molecular alignment in a magnetic field.
Source: BBC

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