Research report 2020 - Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar
Navigation underground
Authors
E. Pascal Malkemper
Departments
Assoziierte Einrichtung - Forschungszentrum caesar (center of advanced european studies and research), Bonn
Summary
African mole-rats spend their entire life in underground tunnel systems that can extend over several kilometers. Despite absolute darkness mole-rats navigate within these mazes with utmost efficiency. They are guided by the rare sensory ability to use the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation. We aim to understand the structure of the receptors of the magnetic sense and how magnetic cues are processed in the mole-rat brain.