HOMING

ability of certain animals to return to a given place when displaced from it, often over great distances. The major navigational clues used by homing animals seem to be the same as those used in migration (sun angle, star patterns, etc.), but homing may occur in any compass direction and at any season. The best-known examples of strong homing ability are among birds, particularly racing, or homing, pigeons; many other birds, especially seabirds and also swallows, are known to have equal or better homing abilities. A Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), transported in a closed container to a point about 5,500 km (3,400 miles) from its nest, returned to the nest in 12 1/2 days.