The secret to pigeons' incredible navigation was hiding in their liver

Jun 01, 2026 Last reply: 1 month ago 9 Replies
J

From:

formatting link
The secret to pigeons’ incredible navigation was hiding in their liver Pigeons may owe their remarkable homing ability not to their brains or eyes, but to magnetic-sensing immune cells hidden in their livers. Date: May 31, 2026 Source: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Summary: Scientists have uncovered a surprising navigation system in pigeons: iron-filled immune cells in the liver that may act like tiny magnetic sensors. Birds deprived of these cells struggled to find their way home under overcast skies, indicating they rely on Earth’s magnetic field for guidance. The discovery could solve a decades-old mystery about animal navigation and reveal an unexpected connection between immunity and sensing the environment.



Gut feeling!


Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

I bet anyone would struggle after having their livers messed with...

Jeroen Belleman

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

Note 'under overcast skies'

Seems the birds with modified livers had no problem under clear skies?

Personally I have a few compasses.

formatting link
formatting link
There is also a MPU6050 acceleration sensor (ebay), a HMC5883L compass module (ebay), and a BMP180 pressure module (ebay), all these modules run on 5 V. Nice veroboard 'hat' for my Raspberry Pi, no dremmelinngs needed.

All part of my navigation system:

formatting link
really nice, has GPS too of course
formatting link
planes and boats reception via RTL-SDR USB sticks.

So... else just use radio and a direction sensitive receiver do to a cross bearing Else I have this too, and trained with it a bit:

formatting link
You need an accurate watch, so I use this now:
formatting link
One can still get lost of course you will need a flashlight for in the dark, one of many I have, this one can automatically flash a SOS ... ___ ..
formatting link
If all else fails I can send up this one to look around:
formatting link
I have been a veggy since the seventies sooo liver? I dunno. Iron? Must have a lot of lead using 60/40 all the time. Maybe a goof pair of binoculars may help to so see far of orientation ppoints. Got a nice powerful one a while back with a bracket to hook up you cellphone to use it to make pictures.

There is more... I will now feed the birds, they are signaling they want food.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
N

In the case of the magazine "Nature", seemingly so. Many Scifrauders will recall my multitude of postings last year in which I publicly accused the then editor Sir John Maddox of knowingly publishing false scientific claims in order to boost circulation. His eventual reply on Scifraud prior to resigning

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
N

Jan Panteltje snipped-for-privacy@comet.invalid schreef: |------------------------------------------------------------| |"[. . .] | |All part of my navigation system: | |

formatting link
| |[. . .] | |If all else fails I can send up this one to look around: | |
formatting link
| | | |I have been a veggy since the seventies sooo liver? I dunno.| |[. . .]" | |------------------------------------------------------------|

Those webpages fail to show various images. E.g. "screen shot version 0.7.8 with more buttons..." and "hubsan_H501S_GPS_spoof_connection_IMG_5852.JPG". Impressive though! (S.

formatting link
fuer Kontaktdaten!)

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

My liver has iron-filled cells.

That's cruel. Just attach a magnet to some pigeons and a dummy weight to some others and see what happens.

Don't tell the birds which is which.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

Yes, when changing website hosting I forgot to change panteltje.com to panteltje.nl in some links. There were hundreds of those changes needed. Pictures are there though: For example: outdated link:

formatting link
link:
formatting link
next one:
formatting link
General work-around: For the not working images use left mouse to get the image address, cut and paste into a new tab, change panteltje.com to panteltje.nl

Maybe one day I will fix those things. Those are not essential links, but thank you for pointing it out.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
N

|--------------------------------------------------------------------| |"Yes, when changing website hosting I forgot to change panteltje.com| |to panteltje.nl in some links." | |--------------------------------------------------------------------|

A text editor can easily help. (S.

formatting link
fuer Kontaktdaten!)

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

You don't seriously believe I'll go through all that, do you?

Keep to the point please.

Jeroen Belleman

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

Hasn't that been done many times already?

Jeroen Belleman

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required