Homing is the inherent ability of ananimal tonavigate towards an originallocation through unfamiliar areas. This location may be ahome territory or a breeding spot.
Homing abilities can be used to find the way back to home in amigration. It is often used in reference to going back to a breeding spot seen years before, as in the case ofsalmon. Homing abilities can also be used to go back to familiar territory when displaced over long distances, such as with thered-bellied newt.
Some animals use truenavigation for their homing. This means in familiar areas they will use landmarks such as roads, rivers or mountains when flying, or islands and other landmarks while swimming. However, this only works in familiar territory.Homing pigeons, for example, will often navigate using familiarlandmarks, such as roads.[1]Sea turtles will also use landmarks to orient themselves.[2]
Many animals usemagnetic orientation based on theEarth's magnetic field to find their way home. This is usually used together with other methods, such as a sun compass, as inbird migration and in the case of turtles. This is also commonly used when no other methods are available, as in the case oflobsters,[3] which live underwater, andmole rats,[4] which home through theirburrows.
Celestial orientation, navigation using the stars, is commonly used for homing. Displacedmarbled newts, for example, can only home when stars are visible.[5]
There is evidence thatolfaction, or smell, is used in homing with several salamanders, such as thered-bellied newt.[6] Olfaction is also necessary for the homing ofsalmon.[7]
Topographic memory, memory of the contours surrounding the destination, is one common method for navigation. This is mainly used by animals with less intelligence, such as molluscs.Limpets use this to find their way back to the home scrape; although whether this is true homing has been disputed.[8]
| Biological swarming |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Animal migration | ||
| Swarm algorithms | ||
| Collective motion | ||
| Swarm robotics | ||
| Related topics | ||