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Archives of The Cold Blooded NewsThe Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological SocietyVolume 29, Number 3; March, 2002 |
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Aurora Man Strangled Black Pine Snakes The King Cobra Wandering Newts Ask the Vet "Therms" of Endearment Keeping Large Snakes Next Issue April 2002 PREVIOUS ISSUES February 2002 January 2002 Earlier Issues About the Cold Blooded News CHS Home Page |
Wandering NewtsFrom Herp Digest, Vol.1, No.52, August 15, 2001, by Allen Salzberg.Excerpted from Ananova 8/10/01. Wandering Newts Know Where They Are By Sensing Variations in the Earth's Magnetic Field, say Scientists.Researchers at Indiana University took adult red-spotted newts 28 miles away from their home ponds. In three separate tests, the newts set off homewards in the correct direction. The team says it may be the first evidence of the use of a magnetic map in nature. The researchers also used electromagnets to simulate changes in the inclination of the magnetic field equivalent to journeys of about 200 kilometres. Again, the newts chose the right direction in their experimental tanks. There is a lot of evidence that animals use biological magnetic compasses, but little that they use magnetic maps. Studies of pigeons and turtles have been inconclusive because it is hard to deny an animal all the other information it might use to navigate. In the wild, newts travel only a mile or so, leaving their ponds in summer and returning in winter. The researchers believe they get to know their local magnetic field as they grow up. Janette Fischer, from Indiana University, said the fact their newts seemed to sense magnetic differences over such unfamiliar distances is "amazing". Roswitha Wiltschko, who studies bird navigation at the University of Frankfurt, says any magnetic map used on a sub-kilometre scale would have to be incredibly sensitive, reports Nature. Copyright © 1998 - 2006, Colorado Herpetological Society. All rights reserved. | ||
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