Animal Magnetoreception

Magnetic sensing, perhaps because it is a type of sensory perception inaccessible to humans, has long captivated the human imagination. Over the past 50 years, scientific studies have shown that a wide variety of living organisms have the ability to perceive magnetic fields and can use information from the earth’s magnetic field in orientation behavior. Examples abound: salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), spotted newts (Notophthalmus viridescens), lobsters (Panulirus argus), honeybees (Apis mellifera), and fruitflies (Drosophila melongaster) can all perceive and utilize geomagnetic field information. But perhaps the most well-studied example of animal magnetoreception is the case of migratory birds (e.g. European robins (Erithacus rubecula), silvereyes (Zosterops l. lateralis), garden warblers (Sylvia borin)), who use the earth’s magnetic field, as well as a variety of other environmental cues, to find their way during migration.

http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/cryptochrome/