Show I Finding the way home gyp byU 3 E a The h homing Instinct of ol some of the creatures of earth sea and sky is truly remarkable If there is such a thing as a R Sixth Sense it surely must be this sense of direction or geographical orientation Even some people have it developed to a fairly high degree while it Is completely lacking in others We are all aU familiar with t tales les lesof of the uncanny ability of some some domesticated animals such as horses cats and dogs to find their way back home homer Perhaps we have thought that they possessed some kind of in built-in compass which made it possible for them to make a line bee home EXPERIMENTS have now shown that there is no mystery about their I accomplishments Just as many mysterious and spooky happenings happenings' have a natural explanation so does I this directional capability among some animals It all aU boils down to their keen powers of observation A dog was hauled 25 miles miles' from home put putout putout t tout out of the car and left in a totally strange countr country In five hours hours' he was back home homel The same dog was was placed in a closed box so that too t he be could not observe any any of the area through which he was was passing and was was hauled 25 miles away to another strange spot Several days passed and he was not heard from Then he was as reported 50 miles away going In the wrong direction Additional experiments with ca cats tS and I dogs dogs' indicated that they could find their way home only if they were permitted to observe landmarks along the way If they were unable to see where they were going they could not get back home H Hikers into strange countr country have frequently be been n advised to occasionally look back and record landmarks along the way b because cause the country looks different on n the return trip In heavily forested reat regions ns it was customary to blaze trees along the way so there would be signs to follow upon returning SPELUNKERS who explore caves sometimes trail string behind them or make marks on walls so they can find their way back out to the entrance The domesticated ho homing pigeon or dove famous as a carrier of messages in peace and war acquires this ability only after long training during which time his nights flights are lengthened until his instinct to return home lessens Successful nights flights are limited to within miles As Asfor Asfor Asfor for the untrained domestic pigeon he couldn't find his way back home from the other side of town So much for domesticated animals and man in their effort to stay on course courser The real navigators exist only among the wild creatures of sea and air Some of their return journeys to the places of their birth are fantastic in some instances covering thousands of miles Tw Two species of marine eels the North American and the European both originate in the Sargasso Sea which lies northeast of the West Indies and south of Bermuda The Th young American eels wriggle up the streams and lakes of the Atlantic Seaboard as far as Nova Scotia while the European follows the Gulf Stream and some some of or these finally end up as 1 far away as Morocco at least miles away Several years later as adults th they y return unerringly to spawn in hi the Sargasso Sea where the American eels have also returned YOUNG ALASKAN fur seals born in the Islands in inthe inthe inthe the Bering Sea swim miles south to California while others go to Japan Later as mature adults they return to the breeding grounds Salmon runs In the streams along the Pacific Coast and their tributaries are are quite familiar to most of or us Spawned in the upper reaches of these streams in some cases 1500 2000 mi miles es from the ocean ocea the young salmon spend a couple of years in fresh water before they venture Into the sea At After ter two or more years as adults they return to the spawning grounds of their birth Marked salmon have been caught more than 2000 miles mlles out at sea and yet salmon come spawning time not only locate the mouth of the main river they are looking for but also the tributary in In which they were born I IMan Man does not yet know everything he would like to know about these animal migrations migration but suspects that they may involve a combination mineral electro of or organic smell touch mechanisms aided by a keen observation inherited characteristics and a fabulous memory At any rate no matter how animals find their way back home it certainly inspires wonder and admiration especially when we can become easily lost just a few miles from where we live Man may be the smartest of but in some respects he has lost some of at the instincts with which nature once endowed him AND NOW we come to those remarkable navigators navigators' the birds Their migrations exceed anything in the animal world some flights extending from the Arctic to South America and return spring flights to the places of their birth It is thought that as navigational aids th the birds make use use of the sun moon and stars It would appear that birds birds' used astronomical compasses millions of years before man Irian came along to use these same means of ot staying on his course It has been observed that in foggy weather birds are just as lost and confused as any man Under similar circumstances But let the fog clear and the flock is again winging along in inthe inthe the proper direction We Wes s superior p beings can be grateful for the signs along the way way that tell tellus us' us us where we are are and where we are supposed to tobe tobe be going going even even if we can only occasionally see one in the fog |