TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gehring, Dennis
A1  - Wiltschko, Wolfgang
A1  - Güntürkün, Onur
A1  - Denzau, Susanne
A1  - Wiltschko, Roswitha
T1  - Development of lateralization of the magnetic compass in a migratory bird
T2  - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London / Series B, Biological sciences
N2  - The magnetic compass of a migratory bird, the European robin (Erithacus rubecula), was shown to be lateralized in favour of the right eye/left brain hemisphere. However, this seems to be a property of the avian magnetic compass that is not present from the beginning, but develops only as the birds grow older. During first migration in autumn, juvenile robins can orient by their magnetic compass with their right as well as with their left eye. In the following spring, however, the magnetic compass is already lateralized, but this lateralization is still flexible: it could be removed by covering the right eye for 6 h. During the following autumn migration, the lateralization becomes more strongly fixed, with a 6 h occlusion of the right eye no longer having an effect. This change from a bilateral to a lateralized magnetic compass appears to be a maturation process, the first such case known so far in birds. Because both eyes mediate identical information about the geomagnetic field, brain asymmetry for the magnetic compass could increase efficiency by setting the other hemisphere free for other processes.
KW  - magnetic compass
KW  - migratory orientation
KW  - asymmetry
KW  - maturation process
Y1  - 2012
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/26814
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-268142
SN  - 1471-2954
N1  - Exis Open Choice. Authors participating in EXiS Open Choice will be able to disseminate their articles under the Creative Commons licence version 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) allowing them to post the final published version on repositories as soon as the article is published. Authors should also deposit the URL of their published article, in addition to the full text.
VL  - 279
SP  - 4230
EP  - 4235
PB  - The Royal Society
CY  - London
ER  -