Nature's Compass: The Mystery of Animal Navigation

Abstract

Nature's Compass: The Mystery of Animal Navigation. By James L. Gould and Carol Grant Gould. Princeton University Press. (ISBN 9780691140452). Hardcover. $29.95. The stated aim of Nature's Compass is to provide an update on the scientific subject of navigation because "the last serious review for the well-read non-specialist audience is more than two decades old" (p. xi). You could read this book just for enjoyment (a "light read"), and it would be fascinating. But a lot of the interesting, complex information would almost immediately be forgotten because there is not a lot of repetition or emphasizing of main points--this is not a textbook. The authors' tone reads as a friendly conversation among highly educated people, not simple or overly repetitious. It is up to you to decide the highlights for your particular purpose. If your mind wanders, you can follow the conversation, but you long for the interesting details you missed. The wonderful thing about a book, however, is that you can back up and reread sections. The authors examine time sense and the multiple circuits used by animals, as well as time-independent work-arounds, recalibration techniques, and synchronizations. Then the authors turn to compasses, how time and compass combine with memory to permit piloting and inertial navigation, map sense, and the threats posed by humans to species that rely on navigation. "The twin threats of habitat loss and climate destabilization [over the past 25 years] lead many researchers to ask whether the elegant programming that enables migration might now be leading migrating animals into oblivion" (p. xi). The authors italicize the most important basic scientific terms and then define them and give examples (e.g., "Zooplankton, the minute drifting organisms in the sea that ultimately feed nearly all of the ocean's fish" [p. 11]). Bolded subheadings divide the chapters, and the figure legends are clear and comprehensive. The diagrams are simple (all black and white, mostly line drawings) but effective, even for complex topics. There are no pictures of the organisms, but these are largely unnecessary as the authors focus on a subset of well-studied species: honey bees and homing pigeons (their own research organisms), sea turtles, and migratory birds. But many other species are woven in, including other insects, Bermuda fireworms, spiny lobsters, whales, mice, terrestrial flatworms, and even bacteria. They cover different habitats (the sky, ocean, and land) and spatial scales (from very short distances to across the planet), and a range of orientation strategies from simple to astonishing. In terms of using the book as a reference guide, there is an index in the back. The layout of the chapters is according to types of navigational strategies; the focal species are mentioned in multiple chapters rather than in separate animal-specific chapters. To understand how a particular animal navigates, the reader needs to maintain her attention through more than a few pages (I found taking notes to be helpful). This format makes it harder to understand what processes a bee is using and so minimizes the use of this book for people interested in specific animals, but it provides a better overall understanding of general navigation (the stated goal of the book) and fodder for comparative approaches. Each chapter has an affiliated reference list containing both classic and recent papers. The preponderance of titles is pre-2000. The titles (mostly primary scientific literature articles, with excerpts from some science books) are arranged alphabetically rather than chronologically, so determining the most recent references takes a bit of effort. Unfortunately, there are no in-text reference citations guiding you as to which references would be appropriate for particular points. …