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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 5 page paper outlines the long range navigational habits of birds. For centuries, researchers have recognized that birds fly long distances with great ease and appear to demonstrate navigational habits or systems that are unparalleled. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MH11_MHMigraB.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
attempted to determine how such accuracy in long-range navigation can occur for birds, and have tested hypotheses regarding navigational systems through assessments of homing pigeons (Glausiusz, 2000). Assessing the
existing studies on long-range navigational habits of birds provides a means of understanding the capabilities and limitations of these types of internal systems. Glausiusz (2000) describes the process by which
homing pigeons have been assessed and their ability to move across thousands of miles with great accuracy and ease. In fact, Glausiusz (2000) makes comparisons between the navigation
of homing pigeons and the accuracy of piloted airplanes, suggesting parallels in terms of the accuracy and adequacy of navigational systems. The assumption behind this, then, is that birds
are able to view topographical elements and alter their course relative to landscape changes, but exactly how this takes place is still under investigation. Glausiusz (2000), though, believes that
"birds recognize landscapes by sensing infrasound, or very low frequency sound. Waterfalls, meteors, ocean waves, and winds whistling over mountains or through tunnels all generate distinctive washes of infrasound" that
birds can then sense (p. 24). Comparisons have also been made between the infrasound capabilities of birds, as a navigational element, and similar characteristics in monarch butterflies and
whales (Glausiusz, 2000). Adler (1996) also supports this viewpoint, but suggests that birds use a number of other elements, including both magnetic and celestial clues, that provide support for
their long-range navigation. Adler (1996) argues: "Migratory birds are born with magnetite crystals above their nostrils that enable them to detect magnetic north. If they grow
up under normal conditions, they also develop their ability to navigate using the stars" (p. 164). The transfer of information and the support for the learning of navigational skills
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