Wallraff H G
Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, Seewiesen Post Starnberg.
Naturwissenschaften. 1988 Aug;75(8):380-92. doi: 10.1007/BF00377814.
Pigeon homing, investigated as a paradigmatic example of bird navigation, appears to be based on two mechanisms of orientation whose functions correspond to those of map and compass. Tasks of the latter are usually accomplished by a sun compass, taking into account the sun's movement and time of day. Under overcast skies, the magnetic field of the earth may be used for compass orientation. The "map" part of the system, responsible for site localization, makes use of olfactory perception of atmospheric trace compounds, which must be concluded to contain positional information in unfamiliar areas up to several hundreds of kilometers from home.
鸽子归巢作为鸟类导航的一个典型例子被研究，它似乎基于两种定向机制，其功能分别对应于地图和指南针。后者的任务通常由太阳罗盘完成，要考虑到太阳的运动和一天中的时间。在阴天的情况下，地球磁场可用于罗盘定向。该系统中负责地点定位的“地图”部分利用对大气痕量化合物的嗅觉感知，在距离家几百公里的陌生区域，必须推断这些化合物包含位置信息。
