h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Pigeons navigation skill - A87781468
Author: cucuruzandrei - U14995912

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It's a fascinating subject. Good choice! I felt it left me a bit unsatisfied, though.

In the introduction, maybe you should mention things like:

A) how do the navigation skills of pigeons compare with those of other animals? I have heard of fantastic feats of navigation by wolves and cats, for instance. Are pigeons' better? If so, give examples. It would make the entry much more interesting!

B) how does it compare to the navigational skills in humans? Eg, what we call "having a good sense of direction", without use of map, compass or GPS.

thanks for advice . yes , i will add some information about other animals too .

I see that this is developing nicely!

Incidentally, here is a list of what h2g2 has to say about pigeons so far, none of which cover the navigational skills aspect. (This is useful should you wish to include links in your article to related articles)
A16224518 Our Love/Hate Relationship With Pigeons
A304408 British Pigeons
A138269 The Dodo - an Extinct Bird
A13645785 The Passenger Pigeon

<BB<

This is interesting. Any creature that doesn't need to use Satnav gets my vote.

I couldn't understand this sentence:

>>In advanced navigation scientists think that rats use the head direction cells and place cells .<<

What are the 'head direction cells' and 'place cells'?

These cells help rats to orientate in an unknown place. I dont have experience in this domain to tell you more .
I said before , 'it is believed that at some creatures ”homing instinct” is innate' , with "advanced navigation" i meant 'something' , not just instinct.

I get you - you mean it's hardwired.

Could you maybe rephrase that for us slowpokes?

Not sure about pigeon's navigation skills...had one in my car once and tried to get it to direct me somewhere...we carried on along the same road for 60miles before I realised that pigeons just naturally bob their heads and it wasn't telling me to keep going straight... ... ...

That's funny . I think your pigeon ran out of battery .

This is a fascinating article, which should make a contribution to the Edited Guide.

I have a few suggestions about sentences where I think your ideas could be expressed more clearly:

In the sentence beginning "Scientists think that rats use cells..." do you mean "cells which specialise in direction and place" ?

The sentence about the animals' wrists sounds like a theory, rather than established fact. I suggest you say "But another study suggests that the animals' wrists are important..."

, In the sentence "Research into the first two theories has included an experiment along the way" I'm not sure what you mean by "along the way". Do you mean "an experiment, among others,"?

I hope we haven't put you off, cucuruzandrei.

With a few more little changes , this should be a very good article.

No , I just don't know what exactly i should change .

cucuruzandrei

That is exactly what this thread is for. Do not be afraid to ask questions, ask the others to please explain their comments, or even disagree. We are all just trying to help each other here. The only 'stupid' question is the one you didn't bother to ask!

Read some of the other Peer Review threads and get the feel of what we do do. I have a couple working at the moment 'Night' A87782296 and 'Sail to Steam' A87780928. Please feel free to read the comments here, or on any of the other entries in Peer Review, you can also add your own comments to any of them if you wish.

and keep writing here!

Just reported in the Bbc:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17855194

I hope this helps.

How are we doing here? Any progress?

How's this coming along, cucuruzandrei? We'll be happy to accept this as soon as it's ready



h2g2 Editors

Entry removed from PR and moved to the Flea Market.