German study finds inner ear compass in pigeons German researchers show hair cells in pigeons inner ear convert magnetic fields into neural
"In winter, lakes and rivers across the country are filled with migratory birds flying in from the north. How do birds keep such precise bearings while flying thousands of kilometers? German scientists have newly found a compass in birds’ ears. It had been known that substances in the retina or beak respond to magnetic fields, but this means they also “hear” direction through the ear.
David Keays, a professor at LMU, and his team in Germany said in Science on the 21st that “experiments confirmed that pigeons detect magnetic fields in the inner ear and send electrical signals to the brain.” The team validated the pigeon experiment results through single-cell RNA decoding and tracing of brain signal pathways.
It has been known that various animals such as migratory birds, turtles, and trout sense the direction and intensity of Earth’s magnetic field to orient themselves, but the exact mechanism has remained unclear. Eric Warrant, a professor at Lund University in Sweden, said, “The ultimate holy grail of sensory biology is to understand magnetoreception,” adding, “This study is the most definitive demonstration of a neural pathway involved in magnetic field processing in animals.”"
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