WEBVTT - How do Animals Map the World?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Works dot Com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Bowl your Mind.

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<v Speaker 1>My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. We

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<v Speaker 1>are on the third Map episode. The last two episodes

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<v Speaker 1>we talked a lot about the human experience with maps,

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<v Speaker 1>about all the complex ways that we interact with their maps,

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<v Speaker 1>how core the map is to our understanding of the universe,

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<v Speaker 1>about how complex it gets when you throw in religious

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<v Speaker 1>ideas and philosophic ideas and and all these unreal things,

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<v Speaker 1>and and it just becomes this quagmire. So in this

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<v Speaker 1>episode we are stripping away a lot of the human

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<v Speaker 1>complexity and we're looking at the animal complexity when it

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<v Speaker 1>comes to maps, because you won't find a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>physical maps that have been drawn by like an elephant

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<v Speaker 1>or a beetle. But as far as we know, as

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<v Speaker 1>far as we know, they may not actually create maps,

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<v Speaker 1>but there is mapping going on because because humans were

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<v Speaker 1>mapping before they actually made the maps. If we discussed

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<v Speaker 1>so we have the we have the neural architecture for mapping.

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<v Speaker 1>It's part of how we or any animal moves through

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<v Speaker 1>a three dimensional world full of fixed and movable objects.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just part of our navigational system. Yeah, and there

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<v Speaker 1>are similar similarities between humans and animals, but you could

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<v Speaker 1>argue that animals have a much more sophisticated system than humans.

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<v Speaker 1>And in fact, the term cognitive mapping was the first

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<v Speaker 1>used to describe the superior maze solving abilities of lab rats.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, we think about that term in terms of humans,

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<v Speaker 1>but that is not so Uh. It is these guys

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<v Speaker 1>that really helped us to understand how very well they

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<v Speaker 1>can navigate space. Right, So let's talk about the similarities

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<v Speaker 1>in the way that humans and animals navigate. For starters,

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<v Speaker 1>and something we discussed in one of our previous episodes,

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<v Speaker 1>horizontal vertical neurons. We are we when it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>like a chessboard, we are nearly more similar to the

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<v Speaker 1>rook the little castle that moves up and down side

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<v Speaker 1>to side. Like that's what we understand the most. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>Throw in the movements of a queen or a bishop

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<v Speaker 1>that's going diagonal, and uh, we're not as we're not

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<v Speaker 1>as hardwired to catch those movements into into move in

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<v Speaker 1>that way in our head. Yeah, they're stealthie moves to us, right,

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<v Speaker 1>And the reason for that is because we have these

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<v Speaker 1>sack codes or eye movements, this machinery that really tracks

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<v Speaker 1>well on this X y axis. And it's the same

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<v Speaker 1>for other animals. Um. And it really makes sense for

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<v Speaker 1>us land lovers, animals and humans because think about our

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<v Speaker 1>coordinates that we deal with all the time. We deal

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<v Speaker 1>with these really vertical trees and this really horizontal landscape.

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<v Speaker 1>So it would make sense that that's how we are oriented. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>let's say and co paris into something like a sephalopod

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<v Speaker 1>like a squid, in which the coordinates are very different

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<v Speaker 1>underwater in the deep and they don't need that sort

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<v Speaker 1>of X y orientation which we've talked about before. Like

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<v Speaker 1>how incredible it is that they can navigate their space.

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<v Speaker 1>If you if you need any proof that humans live

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<v Speaker 1>them at X y axis, uh, certainly try doing some

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<v Speaker 1>eye exercises where you roll your eye like like the

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<v Speaker 1>hands of the clock, and you'll find that it's that

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<v Speaker 1>diagonal space in between in between the the twelve and

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<v Speaker 1>the three, in between the three and the six, that's

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<v Speaker 1>where you're gonna find a little strain unless you've been

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<v Speaker 1>using I exercises regularly, which you know some people do.

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<v Speaker 1>I suppose we all should really it's just pain. You're right,

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<v Speaker 1>then when I do it in a circle, I can

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<v Speaker 1>really see, but when I go up and down and

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<v Speaker 1>side to side, it's much clear. Uh. So there you go.

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<v Speaker 1>That's that's one of the similarities that we have with

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<v Speaker 1>other animals, at least land dwelling animals. And then we

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<v Speaker 1>have something called path integration. Yes, path integration in a

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<v Speaker 1>sense backtracking. Uh. The example that comes to mind with

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<v Speaker 1>the path integration is you fly somewhere you've never been

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<v Speaker 1>to before. You're on vacation, and basically someone drove you

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<v Speaker 1>to the hotel, so you have no real idea of

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<v Speaker 1>where you are, but you still I guarantee it. If

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<v Speaker 1>you you're in say you're a you're in a hotel

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<v Speaker 1>in Bangkok. You can step out the door. You can

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<v Speaker 1>look at the end of the street and we're like, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a place where I can buy a newspaper. You

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<v Speaker 1>can go get that newspaper, and then you can look

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<v Speaker 1>down the other street and you're like, oh, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>place that's selling mangoes. Go buy a mango, and then

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<v Speaker 1>you'll be able to get back to your hotel, either

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<v Speaker 1>by backtracking or by taking um a different course, like

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<v Speaker 1>you'll you'll have in your head this map of the

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<v Speaker 1>places you've been and where you are in reference to

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<v Speaker 1>the place you came from. Yeah. Ken Jennings and his

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<v Speaker 1>book Map Head talks about this. He talks about being

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<v Speaker 1>in d C and going to all these different museums

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<v Speaker 1>there and then going back to the Metro the train system,

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<v Speaker 1>and saying, you know, they didn't retrace their steps through

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<v Speaker 1>these five different museums, basically looked at where the sun

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<v Speaker 1>was and where the train was and said, okay, we

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<v Speaker 1>think we can make our way back there. And of

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<v Speaker 1>course animals do a similar thing, but much in a

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<v Speaker 1>much better way than we do, or a more direct way.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, you can look at an ant and see

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<v Speaker 1>it roaming around for two hundred meters just kind of

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<v Speaker 1>randomly meandering foraging for food, and then once it finds food,

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<v Speaker 1>it takes an absolute direct path back to the beginning

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<v Speaker 1>of where it was. Um. Such is their homing device

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<v Speaker 1>in their in their heads. You brought up landmarks, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's another core thing that both humans and their fellow

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<v Speaker 1>animals you used to navigate. In fact, we've had studies

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<v Speaker 1>which have shown that that fish even can use landmarks

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<v Speaker 1>to to navigate the world around them and to reorient

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<v Speaker 1>themselves when they've been taken out of one environment a

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<v Speaker 1>bit a large environment and putting a smaller one, or

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<v Speaker 1>vice versa. And we've seen um each species like jay's

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<v Speaker 1>and nutcrackers, their foragers who tuck away their food in

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of different places, relying heavily on landmarks. Another good

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<v Speaker 1>example are whales in the Pacific who are traveling toward

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<v Speaker 1>North America on the west coast. I mean they the

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<v Speaker 1>whole continent of North America is essentially a landmark, and

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<v Speaker 1>that establishes where they're going to take their turn. And

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<v Speaker 1>then of course there's the position of the sun, which

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<v Speaker 1>plays into our circadian rhythms. Are this this understanding on

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<v Speaker 1>a biological level about what the what the cycle of

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<v Speaker 1>the solar cycle it's doing, what the lunar cycle is doing,

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<v Speaker 1>and so we're able to determine where we are in

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<v Speaker 1>relation to the regular setting and rising of the sun. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>And so of course animals and some birds can even

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<v Speaker 1>travel at night using the sun, and the theory is

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<v Speaker 1>that they take the reading from where the sun sets

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<v Speaker 1>and then uses that to set their course. And then

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<v Speaker 1>others think that the polarization of light coming from the

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<v Speaker 1>sun place role as well. Of course, this is all

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<v Speaker 1>stuff that we have in common with animals. There's a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of other things that animals used that that we

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<v Speaker 1>just don't have access to, things like scent um, even

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<v Speaker 1>the like a bees waggle. Yes, yeah, we're not. We're

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<v Speaker 1>not so good at using the waggle to navigate. I've tried,

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<v Speaker 1>but nobody knows what I'm talking about. Of course, one

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<v Speaker 1>of the big differences in the ways that the humans

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<v Speaker 1>navigate the world and animals navigate the world our our ability,

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<v Speaker 1>or in our case, our inability to detect the Earth's

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<v Speaker 1>magnetic field and navigate the world by it. Um. We

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<v Speaker 1>discussed in the past when we're talking about bats, we

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<v Speaker 1>talked about magnetite, which is this uh magnetic substance in

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<v Speaker 1>the bat that allows it to detect there's magnetic field.

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<v Speaker 1>Humans have it in their bodies as well, but we're

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<v Speaker 1>not really able to do anything with it. Um. Other

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<v Speaker 1>animals can do really amazing things with it, such as

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<v Speaker 1>the loggerhead turtle. Yeah, these are pretty famous because they

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<v Speaker 1>hatch and then they make a ten year, eight thousand

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<v Speaker 1>miles circuit. Of the North Atlantic returning back to Florida,

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<v Speaker 1>um where they hatched from. And they are very sensitive

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<v Speaker 1>to the magnetic fields that the Earth has. Yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>think ever like nine thousand miles thousand kilometers before they return,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's a it's believed that they create this mental

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<v Speaker 1>magnetic map in their their heads based on the angle

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<v Speaker 1>of magnetic field and intensity in the areas that they

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<v Speaker 1>travel through. Yeah. In fact, there have been some experiments.

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<v Speaker 1>The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had some

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<v Speaker 1>researchers who actually through the turtles off course, but then

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<v Speaker 1>the turtles were able to find their way back with

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<v Speaker 1>very little difficulty. And they think, again, this is the

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<v Speaker 1>magnetic fields, the lines that they're following, and then um

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<v Speaker 1>believing that some magnetic orienting was going on, the next

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<v Speaker 1>experiment subjected the turtles to a variety of magnetic fields

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<v Speaker 1>that differed from the Earth's natural field, and of course

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<v Speaker 1>the turtles went off course again and exposure to a

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<v Speaker 1>magnet that mimic the Earth's field set them right again.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is proof that the turtles can the tech

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<v Speaker 1>that earth magnetic field and then use it to navigate,

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<v Speaker 1>which I think is fashionating it because to me, this

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<v Speaker 1>is like a superpower that which do not possess. Now

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<v Speaker 1>that magnetite I mentioned, the crystals of magnetite have been

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<v Speaker 1>found in various creatures. It's even been found in some bacteria.

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<v Speaker 1>You'll find in the brains of bees and termites, fish,

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<v Speaker 1>um again, humans, though it's not only doing anything there,

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<v Speaker 1>and in birds, most notably in the beaks of pigeons.

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<v Speaker 1>Humming pigeons. Yeah, humming pigeons, of course we know are

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<v Speaker 1>are wonderful at navigating and have been used by humans

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<v Speaker 1>quite a bit for that purpose. But the studies do

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<v Speaker 1>suggest that the bird's sense the magnetic field independent of

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<v Speaker 1>their motion and posture, and that they can identify their

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<v Speaker 1>geographical position. Now, the reason why researchers are really interested

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<v Speaker 1>as well this this pigeon type receptor system is that

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<v Speaker 1>nanotechnologists are really interested in learning more for accurate drug

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<v Speaker 1>delivery systems based on this receptor system. And I also

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<v Speaker 1>wanted to point out that they think that this this

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<v Speaker 1>magnetite could be a universal feature of all birds, which

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<v Speaker 1>would help solve this mystery of why they can navigate

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<v Speaker 1>so well. Because we know, of course, the magnetite helps

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<v Speaker 1>the magnetic fields, the sun's position. But there are also

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<v Speaker 1>other things going on, like scent. Yes, And before we

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<v Speaker 1>get into scent, let's take a quick break, and when

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<v Speaker 1>we come back, we will talk about navigating the world

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<v Speaker 1>around you with maps made out of smell. All right,

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<v Speaker 1>we're back maps, smell maps. Yes, so you know, to

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<v Speaker 1>a certain city. We've talked before about as humans, where

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<v Speaker 1>we're just walking through the streets of our lives, walking

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<v Speaker 1>through our daily environments. Even if we're not actively thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about the map around us, our our mind is forming

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<v Speaker 1>a map based on the information that's coming in and

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<v Speaker 1>the things we're experiencing. So to a certain extent, we

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<v Speaker 1>may form a smell map. We may know what parts

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<v Speaker 1>of the office are smelly, which parts smell like a

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<v Speaker 1>strong air freshener, which parts they smell like doughnuts, depending

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<v Speaker 1>on the time of the day. So to a certain extent,

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<v Speaker 1>we have a very limited smell bat But it's nothing

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<v Speaker 1>like the smell maps that some of the animals out

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<v Speaker 1>there used to navigate the world. Ye I was just

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<v Speaker 1>thinking about when I lived in midtown Atlanta and on

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<v Speaker 1>a Sunday morning, I would take a walk around and

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<v Speaker 1>I always wanted to do a scratch and sniff map,

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<v Speaker 1>because there's you know, an area that has a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of bars in it, and you know, there were very

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<v Speaker 1>distinct areas that Yeah, there's always mixed alcohol and the

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<v Speaker 1>gutter stink, yeah, and the bleach trying to clean the

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<v Speaker 1>sidewalks New Orleans e yes, pop, Yeah, but yeah, that

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't that kind of pales in comparison to an animal's

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<v Speaker 1>ability to smell an entire habitat it's flying over. Now. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>we have animals such as ants that famously use sent

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<v Speaker 1>trails to navigate. They you know, you see them marching

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<v Speaker 1>in their lines leaf cutter ants, for instance, and they're

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<v Speaker 1>marching from one place of the other. They're just following

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<v Speaker 1>the cent trail left by the guy in front of you.

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<v Speaker 1>And you can manipulate that cent trail to spell out

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<v Speaker 1>your name, to to lead them off course, to to

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<v Speaker 1>to do all sorts of um, I guess, kind of

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<v Speaker 1>mean things to the poor leafcutter ants who are just

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<v Speaker 1>trying to get stuff done and and conduct their agricultural

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<v Speaker 1>experiment underground. Oh you're just delaying them, yeah, because they're

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<v Speaker 1>they're they're going to get the stuff. They're they're determined.

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<v Speaker 1>But but yeah, So, so there's that model simply following

0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.160
<v Speaker 1>cent trails. But but then there's some slightly more complex

0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.120
<v Speaker 1>methods as well. Yeah, because what do you do if

0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.560
<v Speaker 1>you're an ant in the Sahara, for instance, because it's

0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.679
<v Speaker 1>so windy and sandy, you're not gonna be able to

0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.000
<v Speaker 1>pick up a scent, right. Um. So there's a Swiss

0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:47.040
<v Speaker 1>zoologist by the name of Rudiger Juaner, and he altered

0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:51.920
<v Speaker 1>ants paces by putting them on tiny stilts. Ants on

0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.640
<v Speaker 1>stilts made of individual pig bristles. And he did this

0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:57.520
<v Speaker 1>for a reason, not not just to start a little

0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:01.520
<v Speaker 1>ant circus um. He wanted to know how their pace

0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:05.000
<v Speaker 1>informed their ability to navigate. So what he found is

0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.160
<v Speaker 1>that when he put the ants on stilts, it really

0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.880
<v Speaker 1>altered their pace, and they overshot their destinations by a

0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.840
<v Speaker 1>pretty big margin, which then pointed to him that that

0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.079
<v Speaker 1>ants are actually doing a sort of mental math math

0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:24.599
<v Speaker 1>calculation with their steps. It was pretty fascinating. And that

0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.840
<v Speaker 1>we had mentioned the waggle another way that other animals

0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:32.600
<v Speaker 1>communicate directions, right, These are the bees that communicate by

0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.680
<v Speaker 1>by shaking their their hinders and doing a little dance.

0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.120
<v Speaker 1>The dance of the bees, which is more than just

0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:43.720
<v Speaker 1>a celebration of their of their their honey base life,

0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:47.599
<v Speaker 1>but but actually a communicative gesture. Yeah, they share geographic

0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.360
<v Speaker 1>information like the direction of the food sources relative to

0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.120
<v Speaker 1>the sun, the distance, and then the quality of that

0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:57.440
<v Speaker 1>food source, which I thought was really interesting. There was

0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.400
<v Speaker 1>I think there was an old there was an old

0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.439
<v Speaker 1>Donald Duck cartoon where he dressed up like a b

0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:07.080
<v Speaker 1>to uh, to steal their honey. And I can't recall

0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.080
<v Speaker 1>if he actually did some waggling. He did some waggling,

0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.240
<v Speaker 1>for sure, because hey, he's Donald and he's got this

0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:17.480
<v Speaker 1>big fake stinger on his his hinder there. But but

0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:19.640
<v Speaker 1>I want to say that he did a little waggling

0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.960
<v Speaker 1>in as a b communicative measure as well. Well, and

0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.720
<v Speaker 1>I do kind of remember, but the donc donc waggle

0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.720
<v Speaker 1>that he has anyway, so sort of a natural thing.

0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.480
<v Speaker 1>It's funny how in kids stories there's so many plots

0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.360
<v Speaker 1>involving another creature trying to pretend like it is honey

0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.000
<v Speaker 1>bee or some other thing trying to steal honey. It's

0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:41.880
<v Speaker 1>a big deal. Yeah, I mean it's a it's a

0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.280
<v Speaker 1>it's one of the classic stories, right, The bear trying

0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.840
<v Speaker 1>to steal the bee's honey. I mean it's a cautionary

0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.800
<v Speaker 1>tale too, right, because there's something that the bee has,

0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.200
<v Speaker 1>the human or the bear or the duck wants it,

0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.800
<v Speaker 1>and it's gonna risk getting stung if it tries to

0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:59.400
<v Speaker 1>steal it. So that's right, Which is the whole point

0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.520
<v Speaker 1>of children's books anyway, right, their instructive Um, All right,

0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:05.480
<v Speaker 1>let's take everybody out here with a couple of other

0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:10.440
<v Speaker 1>amazing examples of how animals navigate. First of all, there

0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.720
<v Speaker 1>is this creature called the frill fin gobie, which is

0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.080
<v Speaker 1>a little fish. It sounds like it could be a

0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.920
<v Speaker 1>Middle Earth inhabitant theath yeah, or it does sound like

0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:23.000
<v Speaker 1>a hobbits name, or maybe a dwarf. But but what's

0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.280
<v Speaker 1>what's amazing about this little crater Well, it's a small

0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.520
<v Speaker 1>tropical fish and it's found in rocky pools along the

0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.440
<v Speaker 1>Atlantic shore, and all that is you know, pretty like, okay,

0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.080
<v Speaker 1>pretty wrote information. Um, But this is the really cool

0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.520
<v Speaker 1>thing about this fish. If a tidal pool that it's

0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.160
<v Speaker 1>in becomes really low or predator shows up, the fish

0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:45.040
<v Speaker 1>can eject itself straight up into the water and into

0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.480
<v Speaker 1>another tidal pool with great accuracy, and it can do

0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.480
<v Speaker 1>this six successive times until it can find a tidal

0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.760
<v Speaker 1>pool that doesn't have a predator in it or seems safe.

0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:59.920
<v Speaker 1>And what scientists think is that because these fish have

0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.760
<v Speaker 1>had an opportunity during high tide to explore that they

0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.160
<v Speaker 1>have been able to make a mental map of all

0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.320
<v Speaker 1>these different title pools that they can work with in

0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.360
<v Speaker 1>these situations, because jumping from one title pool to the next,

0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.680
<v Speaker 1>I mean, that's that's a dangerous proposition if you don't

0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.800
<v Speaker 1>have a clear idea that there is going to be

0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:17.720
<v Speaker 1>a title pool there and then have some idea of

0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:20.160
<v Speaker 1>what's gonna be in it, right, yeah, exactly right. What's

0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:24.160
<v Speaker 1>the term out of the frying pan into the fire? Yeah, yeah, um.

0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.040
<v Speaker 1>And then there's the Manx shearwaters. This is a kind

0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:30.080
<v Speaker 1>of bird. Yeah, These guys are pretty amazing. They regularly

0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.120
<v Speaker 1>migrate well over ten thousand kilometers to South America in

0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.040
<v Speaker 1>the winter, uh, where they use the waters off southern

0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.520
<v Speaker 1>Brazil and Argentina. So you'll have some of these older

0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.800
<v Speaker 1>birds that have clocked some phot somewhere the neighborhood of

0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.440
<v Speaker 1>eight million kilometers five million miles during the course of

0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:52.840
<v Speaker 1>its lifetime, like you anytime I think about that. Um

0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.400
<v Speaker 1>in terms of any bird migration, you know, you think

0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.760
<v Speaker 1>they're they're they're humans that spend large portions of their

0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.200
<v Speaker 1>time never leaving a particularly area, and in many cases

0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.719
<v Speaker 1>lived their entire lives within a very um fixed space.

0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:06.880
<v Speaker 1>And then you have these birds that are just true

0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.919
<v Speaker 1>globe quatters. Globe quatters, they are true globetrotters, you know.

0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.879
<v Speaker 1>Uh yeah, And actually I'm gonna tell you this story

0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.520
<v Speaker 1>about a shearwater. Now when I tell you the story,

0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.239
<v Speaker 1>you try to imagine yourself as this shearwater. Okay um.

0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.760
<v Speaker 1>In nineteen fifty three, British ornithologists RM Lockley asked his

0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:28.040
<v Speaker 1>friend in London to take two Manx shearwaters on a

0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:32.240
<v Speaker 1>plane from London to Boston with him a commercial it's

0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:35.119
<v Speaker 1>a commercial flight, it was I think you pretty much

0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:39.679
<v Speaker 1>do anything. Um. It's only one of the shearwaters survived. Uh.

0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.160
<v Speaker 1>And when they got to the Boston Boston Slogan Airport,

0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.919
<v Speaker 1>his friend set the bird free, which is what the

0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.000
<v Speaker 1>ornithologists wanted him to do. So the friend wrote to

0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:53.280
<v Speaker 1>Lockley to tell him what he had done, and then

0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:58.240
<v Speaker 1>twelve days later and thirty miles later, the Shearwater returned

0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.680
<v Speaker 1>to London ahead of the letter. So this is amazing

0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.200
<v Speaker 1>to me because can you imagine someone stuffing you on

0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.080
<v Speaker 1>a plane and not having any context of where you are,

0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.240
<v Speaker 1>being taken to another location again without any sort of

0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:16.080
<v Speaker 1>data about where the sun is, any sort of landmarks sent,

0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:18.760
<v Speaker 1>and then being able to find your way home. Yeah.

0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:20.199
<v Speaker 1>I would just like the first thing I would have

0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:21.879
<v Speaker 1>to do is just climb a tree so that the

0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.639
<v Speaker 1>wolves wouldn't eat me, you know, just like climb up

0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.000
<v Speaker 1>there and maybe they'll find my body and only that

0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.280
<v Speaker 1>my eyes will be done. So that's your strategy to

0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:32.359
<v Speaker 1>climb a tree. Pretty much. My sense of direction is

0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.199
<v Speaker 1>not that good, so you know, you can actually increase that.

0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.160
<v Speaker 1>There have been studies that say that the people can

0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.440
<v Speaker 1>increase their their sense of direction and their ability to

0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.440
<v Speaker 1>to navigate better. It's just practice practice. Yeah, okay, well

0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.760
<v Speaker 1>there's hope for me. Maybe maybe I won't just climb

0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:48.440
<v Speaker 1>the tree and die. Maybe I'll look around. No, no

0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.560
<v Speaker 1>Map boot camp for you. I think Map boot camp.

0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.919
<v Speaker 1>I'm trying to imagine people showing up from Matt boot Camp,

0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.040
<v Speaker 1>Like the instructions will have to be pretty like they

0:18:58.080 --> 0:18:59.720
<v Speaker 1>basically need to send a bus to your house to

0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.520
<v Speaker 1>get you because because otherwise it's just no one's gonna

0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:05.399
<v Speaker 1>show up. It's gonna be like three guys showing up

0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.160
<v Speaker 1>for five minutes late, and they're like, where my goodness,

0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.560
<v Speaker 1>I had the GPS and everything, and and now I'm

0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.280
<v Speaker 1>I barely survived. I think this would make a great

0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:19.200
<v Speaker 1>reality show. All right, Well, there's just some quick insight

0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.920
<v Speaker 1>into the animal world of maps. How animals navigate the

0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.159
<v Speaker 1>world informed these Uh then it may it be a

0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.560
<v Speaker 1>physical map, but they're certainly forming these elaborate mental maps

0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.760
<v Speaker 1>of the world around them. So hopefully in these three

0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:34.040
<v Speaker 1>podcasts that we've we've done to to cover maps, you

0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:37.080
<v Speaker 1>you have a different view of what a map means. Well,

0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:38.919
<v Speaker 1>not only what it means on paper, but what it

0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.400
<v Speaker 1>means in the mind of the the human or animal

0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:46.520
<v Speaker 1>that conceived it. Indeed, in how much animals and humans

0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.919
<v Speaker 1>are alike in many ways in navigating this world. All right,

0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:51.399
<v Speaker 1>if you have something you would like to share with

0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.280
<v Speaker 1>us about maps, your experience with maps, your experience with animals.

0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.240
<v Speaker 1>I know some of you guys out there are dog

0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.240
<v Speaker 1>or cat owners, and you may have some miraculous stories

0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.440
<v Speaker 1>about dogs or cats that have disappeared for a little

0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:05.520
<v Speaker 1>bit and come back, or or have made of a

0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.639
<v Speaker 1>long journey from and from their current home to a

0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.520
<v Speaker 1>previous home, that sort of thing. Everyone loves those stories,

0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:13.800
<v Speaker 1>so let us know about them. We'd be happy to

0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:15.880
<v Speaker 1>read if you want to air. You can find us

0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.840
<v Speaker 1>on Facebook and you can find us on tumbler. We

0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.200
<v Speaker 1>are stuff to blow your mind on both of those feeds,

0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.480
<v Speaker 1>and you can also find us on Twitter, where our

0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.480
<v Speaker 1>handle is blow the Mind. And you can always drop

0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:35.480
<v Speaker 1>us a line at blow the Mind at discovery dot com.

0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.960
<v Speaker 1>For more on this and thousands of other topics, Is

0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:43.879
<v Speaker 1>it how Stuff Works dot com