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Published online 26 September 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news070924-5
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Birds may 'see' magnetic north
Study links migratory navigation systems in the eyes and the brain.
How do migrating birds perceive which way is north? Research now points to the idea that they actually 'see' the Earth's magnetic fields, rather than feeling or sensing them in some other way.
Previous work has suggested that the Earth's magnetic field might act on the sensitivity of a migratory bird's eye, so that sight might be involved in finding magnetic north.
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