Dall'Antonia P, Dall'Antonia L, Ribolini A, Ioalè P, Benvenuti S
Dipartimento di Etologia, Ecologia ed Evoluzione, University of Pisa, Via Volta 6, I-56126 Pisa, Italy.
Istituto di Elaborazione dell'Informazione (IEI), CNR, Via Santa Maria 46, I-56126 Pisa, Italy.
Behav Processes. 1999 Mar 1;44(3):331-9. doi: 10.1016/s0376-6357(98)00054-0.
Previous experiments showed that pigeons allowed to smell olfactory cues at a 'false' release site, and subsequently transported to and released from another unfamiliar locality, oriented according to the home direction at the false site but eventually homed despite their wrong initial orientation. In the above 'site simulation' experiments, data collection was restricted to the initial bearings and homing performance, and no information was obtained on the actual route flown by pigeons. Route correction in site simulation tests is now investigated by releasing pigeons equipped with bird-borne direction recorders to track their route. Our results show that the experimental birds can actually fly for a long time in wrong directions, related to the home direction at the false release site, before correcting their path to the true homeward direction. This correction occurs 2 h or more after release, when the birds are supposed to have recovered from the anaesthesia of their olfactory membranes which they had been subjected to just prior to release. This result confirms the basic role of the olfactory information, collected during the outward journey, in the pigeon's homing process.
先前的实验表明，鸽子若在一个“假”释放地点闻到嗅觉线索，随后被转移到另一个陌生地点并从那里释放，它们会根据假地点的归巢方向定向，但尽管初始定向错误，最终仍能归巢。在上述“地点模拟”实验中，数据收集仅限于初始方位和归巢表现，未获得鸽子实际飞行路线的任何信息。现在通过放飞配备鸟类方向记录器的鸽子来追踪其路线，对地点模拟测试中的路线校正进行研究。我们的结果表明，实验鸟类在将路径校正为真正的归巢方向之前，实际上能够长时间朝着与假释放地点的归巢方向相关的错误方向飞行。这种校正发生在放飞后2小时或更长时间，此时鸟类应该已经从放飞前对其嗅膜进行的麻醉中恢复过来。这一结果证实了在外出旅程中收集到的嗅觉信息在鸽子归巢过程中的基本作用。
