Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Sensory biology

Search for the compass needles

Nature volume 484, pages 320–321 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

The idea that bird orientation is guided by magnetic-sensing structures in the animals' beaks has been challenged by the suggestion that the iron-containing cells are macrophages, which have no link to the brain. See Letter p.367

Most humans are hopeless navigators unless they have a map or the Global Positioning System to hand. By contrast, it is well known that many animals, including birds1,2, use information from Earth's magnetic field to orient themselves, even over thousands of kilometres. But how do they sense the field? Iron-mineral-based structures within nerve cells in birds' upper beaks were previously proposed3 to act as one of two main magnetic sensors in birds, the other being a light-based system in the retina4,5. However, on page 367 of this issue, Treiber et al.6 report that these iron-mineral deposits are in fact located inside macrophages, a kind of immune cell that is also involved in iron homeostasis7.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Ironing out magnetoreception.

References

  1. Wiltschko, W. & Wiltschko, R. Science 176, 62–64 (1972).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Cochran, W. W., Mouritsen, H. & Wikelski, M. Science 304, 405–408 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Fleissner, G. et al. J. Comp. Neurol. 458, 350–360 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ritz, T., Thalau, P., Phillips, J. B., Wiltschko, R. & Wiltschko, W. Nature 429, 177–180 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zapka, M. et al. Nature 461, 1274–1277 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Treiber, C. D. et al. Nature 484, 367–370 (2012).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang, J. & Pantopoulos, K. Biochem. J. 434, 365–381 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Fleissner, G., Stahl, B., Thalau, P., Falkenberg, G. & Fleissner, G. Naturwissenschaften 94, 631–642 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Mora, C. V., Davison, M., Wild, J. M. & Walker, M. M. Nature 432, 508–511 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Heyers, D., Zapka, M., Hoffmeister, M., Wild, J. M. & Mouritsen, H. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 9394–9399 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Falkenberg, G. et al. PLoS ONE 5, e9231 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Walker, M. M. et al. Nature 390, 371–376 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henrik Mouritsen is at the Research Center for Neurosensory Sciences and the Institut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany.,

    Henrik Mouritsen

Authors
  1. Henrik Mouritsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Henrik Mouritsen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mouritsen, H. Search for the compass needles. Nature 484, 320–321 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/484320a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/484320a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing