According to new research, smell plays a key role when birds are navigating long distances over the ocean.
Researchers from the universities of Oxford, Barcelona and Pisa temporarily removed seabirds' sense of smell before tracking their movements.
They found the birds could navigate normally over land, but appeared to lose their bearings over the sea.
This suggests that they use a map of smells to find their way when there are no visual cues.
Article here.
Researchers from the universities of Oxford, Barcelona and Pisa temporarily removed seabirds' sense of smell before tracking their movements.
They found the birds could navigate normally over land, but appeared to lose their bearings over the sea.
This suggests that they use a map of smells to find their way when there are no visual cues.
Article here.