Homing is the inherent ability of an
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
to
navigate
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
towards an original
location
In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...
through unfamiliar areas. This location may be either a
home territory, or a breeding spot.
Uses
Homing abilities can be used to find the way back to home in a
migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
. It is often used in reference to going back to a breeding spot seen years before, as in the case of
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...
. Homing abilities can also be used to go back to familiar territory when displaced over long distances, such as with the
red-bellied newt.
True navigation
Some animals use true
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
for their homing. This means in familiar areas they will use landmarks such as roads, rivers or mountains when flying, or islands and other landmarks while swimming. However, this only works in familiar territory.
Homing pigeons, for example, will often navigate using familiar
landmarks, such as roads.
[BBC News: Pigeons reveal map-reading secret]
/ref> Sea turtle
Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...
s will also use landmarks to orient themselves.[Avens, L., (2003) "Homing Behavior, Navigation, and Orientation of Juvenile Sea Turtles]
/ref>
Magnetic orientation
Many animals use magnetic orientation based on the Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic ...
to find their way home. This is usually used together with other methods, such as a sun compass, as in bird migration and in the case of turtles. This is also commonly used when no other methods are available, as in the case of lobsters, which live underwater, and mole rat Mole-rat or mole rat can refer to several groups of burrowing Old World rodents:
* Bathyergidae, a family of about 20 hystricognath species in six genera from Africa also called blesmols.
*'' Heterocephalus glaber'', the naked mole-rat.
* Spalaci ...
s, which home through their burrows.
Celestial orientation
Celestial orientation, navigation using the stars, is commonly used for homing. Displaced marbled newt
The marbled newt (''Triturus marmoratus'') is a mainly terrestrial newt native to western Europe. They are found in the Iberian Peninsula and France, where they typically inhabit mountainous areas.
Habitat and distribution
The marbled newt is ty ...
s, for example, can only home when stars are visible.
Olfaction
There is evidence that olfaction, or smell, is used in homing with several salamanders, such as the red-bellied newt. Olfaction is also necessary for the homing of salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...
.
Topographic memory
Topographic memory, memory of the contours surrounding the destination, is one common method for navigation. This is mainly used by animals with less intelligence, such as molluscs. Limpets use this to find their way back to the home scrape; although whether this is true homing has been disputed.[Villee, C., and Groody, T., (1940) ''American Midland Naturalist''; 24(1):190–204]
See also
* Natal homing
Natal homing, or natal philopatry, is the homing process by which some adult animals return to their birthplace to reproduce. This process is primarily used by aquatic animals, such as sea turtles and Pacific salmon. Scientists believe that the m ...
* Philopatry
Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area. The causes of philopatry are numerous, but natal philopatry, where animals return to their birthplace to breed, may be the most common. The term derive ...
* Homing endonuclease gene
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Homing (Biology)
Behavior
Animal migration