title: Pigeon homing from unfamiliar areas: An alternative to olfactory navigation is not in sight.
abstract: The conclusion that pigeons and other birds can find their way home from unfamiliar areas by means of olfactory signals is well based on a variety of experiments and supporting investigations of the chemical atmosphere. Here I argue that alternative concepts proposing other sources of geopositional information are disproved by experimental findings or, at least, are not experimentally supported and hardly realistic.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Ornithology; Seewiesen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Wallraff
keywords: atmospheric trace gases; avian navigation; geomagnetism; gravity; homing pigeon; infrasound; olfaction