Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1972 Sep;69(9):2446–2447. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.9.2446

Homing in Pigeons with Impaired Vision

K Schmidt-Koenig *, H J Schlichte
PMCID: PMC426961  PMID: 4506767

Abstract

In order to test the importance of vision in homing pigeons, their vision was impaired by frosted contact lenses. Pigeons wearing such lenses seemed unable to recognize artificial landmarks at 6-m distance. Nevertheless, most birds homed from distances of 15 km, and some even from 130-km distance. This result indicates that, contrary to common expectation, vision need not play an essential role in homing.

Keywords: contact lens, frosted, guidance, navigation

Full text

PDF
2446

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Keeton W. T. Magnets interfere with pigeon homing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1971 Jan;68(1):102–106. doi: 10.1073/pnas.68.1.102. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Wiltschko W. Uber den Einfluss statischer Magnetfelder auf die Zugorienteirung der Rotkehlchen (Erithacus rubecula) Z Tierpsychol. 1968 Aug;25(5):537–558. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES