Dance turtles have proved for the first time that some animals use the Earth’s magnetic field to create a personal map of their favorite places, stated by scientists on Wednesday.
Some animals that migrate worldwide – such as birds, salmon, shrimp fish and sea turtles – are known to navigate using magnetic field lines that extend from Earth’s north to south pole.
Scientists knew that animals used this magnetic information as a compass, where they were. They now fast that turtles are also capable of plotting a magnetic map, with important places such as nest hunting or feeding spots.
According to a study by Journal Nature led by Kayla Goforth, University of North Carolina, migrant animals will be required to “learn the magnetic coordinates of the destination”.
The study stated that research provides the first “direct evidence that an animal can learn and miss the natural magnetic signature of the geographical area.
Actually how they manage it is unknown.
Researchers found that the talent of turtles for map-making was different from their internal compass, suggesting that two forms of “magnetoreception” work in different ways.
For experiment, scientists put young wood to turtles in a tank surrounded by a magnetic coil, repeating the magnetic field of the Atlantic Ocean.
‘Turtle Dance’
Every day in two months, scientists changed the magnetic field of the tank between the North American coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
However, the turtles were fed only when they received magnetic information of one area.
When the turtles estimate the food, they used to flutter around, open their mouths and roam in circles in the water.
Researchers filmed this behavior, described as “turtle dance”.
The turtles danced with the most enthusiasm in the tank, which they knew they would give them with food.
It was “strong evidence” that turtles “could learn magnetic signatures of specific geographical regions,” the researchers said.
Even when tested after four months, the turtles still knew that they should dance.
Nobody knows how animals tune in this magnetic information.
One theory is that some may detect the effect of the magnetic field during a chemical reaction between some light-sensitive molecules.
But when researchers tried to make a mess with this process, called the radiofrequency field, the turtles continued to dance in their place, undivided.
Testing the internal compass of turtles was more successful.
In a tank copying magnetic conditions of the West African Islands Cape Verde, the compass of radiofrequency emission turtles seemed to scramble, sent them to random directions.
Researchers concluded that “an appropriate working hypothesis is that compass sense depends on chemical magnetoreception, while MAP Sense depends on an alternative mechanism.”
This hypothesis is supported by indications that other migrant animals such as birds and amphibians may also contain dual magnetic field receptors.
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