Eur. Phys. J. D 51, 161-172 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2008-00118-y

Iron-mineral-based magnetoreceptor in birds: polarity or inclination compass?

Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Ruth-Moufang Str. 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a ilia@fias.uni-frankfurt.de

Received: 17 January 2008
Published online: 13 June 2008

Abstract

In the present paper we demonstrate that the iron-mineral-based magnetoreceptor model developed in [1] can provide birds with a magnetic compass in addition to the generally believed “magnetic map". We show that the iron-mineral-based magnetoreceptor system possesses all properties of a polarity compass, which is extremely important for avian navigation. We study how parameters of the magnetoreceptor system influence on the properties of the compass and show that at certain conditions it acquires features of an inclination compass. In the present paper we address the question of avian magnetoreception theoretically and suggest several experiments which should be performed for better understanding of the iron-mineral-based compass in birds.