Requiem for a heavyweight – can anything more be learned from homing pigeons about the sensory and spatial-representational basis of avian navigation?

Abstract

The homing pigeon (Columba livia) has long served as a study species to exhaustively investigate the sensory and spatial (map)representational mechanisms that guide avian navigation. However, several factors have contributed to recent questioning of whether homing pigeons are as valuable as they once were as a general model for the study of the sensory and map-like, spatial-representational mechanisms of avian navigation. These reservations include: the success of this research program in unveiling navigational mechanisms; the burgeoning of new tracking technologies making navigational experiments on long-distance migratory and other wild birds much more accessible; the almost complete loss of the historically dominant, large-scale pigeon loft/research facilities; and prohibitive university per diem costs as well as animal care and use restrictions. Nevertheless, I propose here that there remain good prospects for homing pigeon research that could still profoundly influence how one understands aspects of avian navigation beyond sensory mechanisms and spatial-representational strategies. Indeed, research into neural mechanisms and brain organization, social/personality influences and genetics of navigation all offer opportunities to take advantage of the rich spatial behavior repertoire and experimental convenience of homing pigeons. Importantly, research in these areas would not necessarily require the large number of birds typically used in the past to study the sensory guidance of navigation. For those of us who have had the opportunity to work with this remarkable animal, one research door may be closing, but a window into exciting future opportunities lies ajar.

A reflection on noncognitive factors affecting spatial cognitive testing: Examples from nonmodel species.

“…In line with this, the homing pigeon ( Columba livia ) is one of the better studied nonmodel species that clearly demonstrates differential cue use based on spatial scale. Although there is some uncertainty regarding the specific details of homing pigeon navigation, the evidence to date suggests that pigeons use an olfactory gradient map to navigate from unfamiliar locations, but when birds are in range of a familiar goal, they switch to local landmark navigation using visual feature cues (reviewed in Bingman, 2018; Wallraff, 2001). On a larger scale, sea turtles migrate thousands of miles, and much work has demonstrated the navigational cues used at different spatial scales during navigation.…”

Towards a unified vision on animal navigation

“…In the case of migratory and homing birds, bi‐coordinate gradient maps have been proposed; it has been suggested that the birds can combine two predictably variant gradients, such as odours and winds, or magnetic fields, to form a grid‐like map (Åkesson et al, 2014; Bingman, 2018).…”

The quantitative anatomy of the hippocampus in homing pigeons and other pigeon breeds: implications for spatial cognition.

“…Wild rock doves, the ancestor of domestic pigeons, use homing to navigate between nesting and foraging sites 20 km apart (Alleva et al 1975;Baldaccini et al 2000), but homing pigeons can navigate home from a novel location over 1,000 km away as a result of training and intense selection over decades by competitive pigeon racers (Hiatt and Esposito 2000;Kligerman 1978). In racing competitions, pigeons must typically navigate from novel locations, a process dependent on multisensory inputs to successfully orient homewards (Wallraff 2005;Walcott 1996; Walcott et al 2018; Wiltschko and Wiltschko 2019) and visuospatial cognition (Bingman 2018(Bingman , 2024Gagliardo et al 2020) to locate their home loft. By selecting for fast and e cient homing over long distances, pigeon racers have likely selected for several physiological, anatomical, and behavioural traits, including improved spatial cognition (Bingman 2018; Herold et al…”