Why Don’t Wild Animals Get Lost?

Have you ever wondered how birds follow their migration route or how sea turtles find their way back to their birthplace? After all, sea turtles spend twelve years at sea before they return to dry land. Why don’t they get lost? What do they perceive that we miss?

A lot, as it turns out.

We know the molten material inside Mother Earth rotates, right? Otherwise, life on Earth wouldn’t have any protection from harmful radiation generated by the sun. This rotation produces a massive magnetic field that extends into space and provides reliable navigation for animals to orient themselves. Many species use this magnetic field—bees, whales, bears, worms, crows (all birds, but Poe wouldn’t be pleased if I lumped his People together with the others), sea turtles, lobsters, mole rats, butterflies, dolphins, elephants, salmon, and wolves, to name a few—any animal that needs to navigate through their environment.

The intensity of Earth’s magnetic field varies.

It’s weakest at the equator and strongest at the poles. Also, the angle between the field lines and the Earth changes with latitude. An animal migrating northwards from the equator will encounter steeper and steeper inclination angles on its route.

The list of animals with a magnetic sense—called magnetoreception—has grown to include species in every vertebrate category, as well as certain insects and crustaceans. Some may use it for orientation, such as blind mole rats. Others like salmon, spiny lobsters, and thrush nightingales may use it for migration and homing, in combination with other sensory cues.

Humans rely heavily on our senses to tell us about our environment.

In Restless Mayhem, Shawnee learned humans possess more than the usual five senses—touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight—after a nasty run-in with a cougar.

• Proprioception is the sense that tells us where, say, our left leg is in space and time.
• Our vestibular sense alerts us to the direction our bodies are moving in relation to gravity.
• Thermoception is our sense of temperature. Though it’s often linked to touch, it’s distinctive with its own set of receptors.
• Pain is the fourth additional sense. On the surface, it may appear as an extension to touch, but our sense of pain is far more complex.

The human body has three different types of pain receptors:

1. Mechanical receptors alert us to physical pain
2. Temperature pain receptors alert us to extreme heat and cold
3. The body triggers chemical receptors like inflammation, which causes tooth-achy type pain

What we don’t have is magnetoreception, the ability to sense Earth’s magnetic field.

Or do we? Hold that thought. The answer may surprise you.

Magnetic Field Alignment

If you gaze into an open field, you may notice most cows or deer face the same direction when they feed. Scientists determined that cows and deer tend to face north when they eat or rest.

Over time, scientists conducted this research by using field observations, measuring deer beds in snow, and through satellite images from Google Earth.

These animals have a compass in their brain. The behavior is called magnetic alignment, the spontaneous orientation of the main axis of an organism with respect to the lines of Earth’s magnetic field. Factors like wind and the angle of the sun had little significance on how the animals stood, according to research publishing in the National Academy of Sciences.

Instead, their heads rotated to the north like the needles of a compass. Though these animals may not be aware of what north means, some part of their brain tells them this is the direction they should face.

Animals don’t quite point toward the north pole. Instead, they face slightly off in the direction of magnetic north, as this position — known as magnetic declination — changes across the face of the planet. In turn, so do the wildlife.

The first reports of magnetic field alignment were found in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until 2008 that we discovered mammals do this as well.

For example, researchers studied red foxes, who hunt small animals like rodents, show a behavior known as “mousing.”

Anyone who watches nature documentaries has seen this many times. The fox listens for a mouse as they prowl closer. Once they narrow in, the fox jumps high in the air then nosedives into the soil, and usually comes out with prey in its mouth. The fox is using magnetoreception! Interestingly, foxes prefer to jump in a northeastern direction. Why? No idea. LOL It’s one of the mysteries of nature.

Researchers theorize the magnetic field alignment in foxes help them estimate distance to their prey.

Foxes also have what’s called radical pair-forming photopigments in their eyes. Stayed tuned for a future post about different types of animal eyes—I’m fascinated by them! Anyway, radical pair-forming photopigments allow foxes to see the magnetic field as a pattern on top of what they’re already viewing. So, picture like a laser grid superimposed over another image. Pretty cool, right?

Wolves use Earth’s magnetic field like a compass to help remember vital places and territories. By measuring the strength of the magnetic field, they can pinpoint where they are. Lost wolves also use it to find their way back to the den. This detection ability is so dead-on accurate, it’s as reliable as a compass.

Using the magnetic field like a compass answers another question I had, but not enough to satisfy me.

A country murder’s territory can span multiple acres. How do they know where one territory ends, and another begins? Also, how do migrating birds find their way home?

Since I wasn’t happy with the wolf explanation, I dug deeper.

All birds use Earth’s magnetic field for navigation, but don’t merely sense it—they can see it! The shadows they visualize indicate north, south, east, west, giving them a built-in compass. Amazing, right?

Can humans sense the magnetic field?

Research published in Nature (2022) found that we share similar abilities with our mammalian cousins. We just don’t know how to use it… yet.

In Other News…

Exciting surprise for my newsletter subscribers. My friend and Kill Zone blogmate, Steve Hooley MD, is a master woodworker (he’s also an author who writes YA). Steve created the first ever “Poe Pen” for me to pass on to one lucky reader each month.

The giveaways were supposed to start at the end of July, but I have so much fun writing my Mayhem Series that time slips away. Now that I’ve finished my next eco-thriller, the first giveaway will have three lucky winners! Every month thereafter will have one.

The wood dates back to 1850 (“1850 Antebellum Cherry”) and the rings are burned into the pen by wrapping copper wire halfway around the pen while the pen is turning, creating friction, and thus heat. They represent crow talons (Crow Talons Publishing), as though a crow picked up the pen. Love it! The crow “Poe” he branded into the wood, so it’ll never come off.

Not only do these pens write like a dream — nice and smooth, with black ink — but the weight and shape of it in your hand is sheer perfection. Those with arthritic fingers like me will notice its genius design right away. I can honestly say it’s the best pen I’ve ever owned.

If you want to join the giveaway, you can do so here.

*By joining the giveaway, you’ll be subscribing to my newsletter.