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Results for “PIGEON”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

The navigation of homing pigeons: Do they use sun Navigation?

Experiments to determine the dependence of homing pigeons on the sun as a navigational cue are discussed. Various methods were employed to interrupt the circadian rhythms of the pigeons prior to release. It was determined that the sun may serve as a compass, but that topographic features are more important for navigation. The effects of a magnetic field produced by electric equipment carried by the bird were also investigated. It was concluded that magnetic fields may have a small effect on the homing ability. The exact nature of the homing pigeon's navigational ability is still unknown after years of elaborate experimentation.

Walcott, C.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Effects of magnets on pigeon homing

The function of magnets in the navigation system of homing pigeons is investigated. Only experienced pigeons with magnets or brass bars were studied. Data show that on sunny days, pigeons with the magnets had some difficulty in orientation while those with brass bars had no problems. The same experiment was repeated on cloudy days. These results show that the magnets did not interfere with orientation. This difference suggests that sun and magnetic cues are used interchangeably, but that both together seldom function.

Keeton, W. T.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Wind lidar operations and observations from Tundra Pigeon

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory brought a ZX-300 profiling lidar to the Tundra Pigeon experiment for the purpose of collecting wind measurements in the lower atmospheric boundary layer. The ZX-300 lidar is a portable Doppler lidar which uses light to track naturally occurring aerosols across a measurement cone, thereby deriving wind speed (horizontal and vertical) and wind direction. The ZX-300 is programable between the heights of 10 m and 300 m above ground level and additionally has a 1 m onboard meteorological sensor for collecting measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and wind at 1 m height. We programmed the ZX-300 to target altitudes of most interest to the tracer experiment. These heights were 10, 15, 20, 30, 38, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 and 200 m. Note that the 38 m level is a fixed calibration height and cannot be changed. This measurement strategy prioritized winds close to the surface while ensuring that we’d also collect information about the winds aloft. The wind measurements are collected directly over the lidar instrument and represent a vertical profile of the winds over that location. However, given that there were minimal terrain and vegetation differences in the area, we’d expect these wind conditions to be representative of a larger volume area, discussed in more detail below.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1972

Topography and pigeon orientation

Two types of homing experiments with pigeons to determine the influence of topographical features on the orientation behavior of the birds are discussed. The releases and following were conducted by ground experiments in which the birds are tracked by visual observation at points of topographical interest and the helicopter method by which the birds are tracked throughout the entire flight. The ground experiments showed a strong influence of topographical features on initial orientation. The helicopter experiments showed that the ground experiments do not provide adequate information on the manner in which homing occurs.

Wagner, G.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Stimulus control in pigeons after extended discriminative training

The effects of amount of training on conditioned inhibition and on the degree of stimulus control were studied using pigeons. The ability of an S- associated with non-reinforcement of suppress positive reinforced behavior was acquired very rapidly during discriminative training. Increased S+, S- training appeared to weaken this conditioned inhibitory effect while at the same time more S+ training apparently increased the amount of external inhibition (non-conditioned inhibition) of positively reinforced behavior by a novel stimulus. Behavioral contrast and incremental generalization gradients along the S- dimension (inhibitory dimensional control) were absent at all stages of training. Behavioral contrast and inhibitory dimensional control are therefore not necessary concomitants of conditioned inhibition by an S-. A new method of assessing the suppressive effects of stimuli during generalization tests was described.

Yarczower, M.↗
NASA NTRS1972

New experiments on the effect of clock shifts on homing in pigeons

The effect of clock shifts as an experimental tool for predictably interfering with the homing ability of birds is discussed. Clock shifts introduce specific errors in the birds' sun azimuth compass, resulting in corresponding errors during initial orientation and possibly during orientation enroute. The effects of 6 hour and 12 hour clock shifts resulted in a 90 degree deviation and a 180 degree deviation from the initial orientation, respectively. The method for conducting the clock shift experiments and results obtained from previous experiments are described.

Schmidt-Koenig, K.↗
NASA NTRS1966

Specific Gravity and Viscosity of Endolymph and Perilymph

Samples of endolymph and perilymph of between 0.002 and 0.003 milliliter were obtained from single ears of living pigeons. Measurements of specific gravity were made in density gradient column, and it was shown that at the pigeon's body temperature (approximately 40 ° C), the specific gravity (referred to water at 4 ° C) of endolymph is 1.0033 and that of perilymph is 1.0022. Preliminary, measurements indicate that at 40 ° C, the viscosity of endolymph is 1.15 centipoise and the viscosity of perilymph is 0.78 centipoise. The unusual high potassium concentration and low sodium concentration of endolymph reported for the cat and the guinea pig were confirmed for the pigeon.

ENDOLYMPH↗
NASA NTRS1972

Preference for locus of punishment in a response sequence.

Study of differences in the aversiveness of response-dependent shock when scheduled on the first, middle or final response of a sequence of 70 responses of food-deprived pigeons, using a procedure to identify relative preferences. The preferred shock schedule and the strength of the preference were found to vary among the pigeons.

Dardano, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Conditioned suppression, punishment, and aversion

The aversive action of visual stimuli was studied in two groups of pigeons which received response-contingent or noncontingent electric shocks in cages with translucent response keys. Presentation of grain for 3 sec, contingent on key pecking, was the visual stimulus associated with conditioned punishment or suppression. The responses of the pigeons in three different experiments are compared.

Orme-Johnson, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The Effect of Porosity on the Lift and Drag of Bird's Wings

Bird's wings are porous. The mass flux through the wings for various simulated wing loadings was measured and found to average about 2 x 10(exp -4) g/s.sq cm for one feather thickness at the average pigeon wing loading of 45 newtons/sq m. The calculated effect of the flux on lift was found to be less than 1/2 of 1%. Experiments at a typical pigeon flight Reynolds number of 10(exp 5) on flat plates with 3.5% and 14.5% open area spread over the trailing 58% of the chord showed that it is possible to both increase and decrease profile drag, relative to the drag on a non-porous flat plate, by < or = 5%. Stall on the porous plates occurred up to 3 deg earlier than stall on the non-porous plates. From lift calculations and drag measurements it is shown that the effects of porosity on the gliding characteristics of birds are negligible.

Lichter, Seth↗