Symposium "Navigation techniques: How do air navigators and animals find their way?"

Pinky on a Catalina in 1944.

On April, 27 2012, it is time for another CAnMove symposium. This time, we will focus on the question, how animals and the old air navigator find their way around the planet. Which features do they use, what sort of techniques have they developed to navigate? And (how) do the navigation strategies, used air navigators and "other animals" differ?

We are very happy to welcome Air Commodore ‘Pinky’ Grocott, Moderator E-Mail Animal-forum, RIN, as one of our symposium speakers. Pinky will give us an appreciation of the techniques he used to apply as an air navigator, mainly relying on the natural features of the universe – some of which may also be used by animals to navigate.

But what do animals, such as sea turtles, that migrate under water do to avoid getting lost in the ocean on their impressive journeys? We are delighted to have Ken Lohmann, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA as a guest speaker, who will share insight into this mystery.

Swedish Polar Research Secretariat.

What does a small songbird, that uses the Earth’s magnetic field as reference system to find its way do, when it flies across the North Pole? At the poles, birds are facing steep inclination angles that make it very hard to defer directional information from. Susanne Åkesson went up North to find an answer these questions.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming you all on April 27- the programme promises to take care of an entertaining morning session. Please let me know by E-Mail (miriam.liedvogel@biol.lu.se) if you want to attend, so we make sure there are enough sandwiches ready for the mingling part of the session.