Skip to content

SciTech

3D orientation does it for us and chicks

by Dave Armstrong 16 Mar 2012
3D orientation does it for us and chicks

Which way to turn? via Shutterstock

In extreme conditions or even in normal situations, an animal has to get itself back into the groove quickly after any disorientation. Survival normally depends on it. Your sense of place is dependent on either panorama-matching processes or by matching the actual 3D geometry of a place. To prove which is used, Sang Ah Lee and his colleagues from Italy and the US have published their paper in the journal Biology Letters this week.

Children's sense of place is not well explained by matching geometry. Other animals could differ, so after rats and ants, young chicks (of the domestic fowl) were chosen. Preceding the chicks other researchers had use children as follows; "3 year-old children reoriented successfully in a circular arena containing either a short, white three-dimensional rectangular frame or two smooth, parallel bumps that protruded from a floor of similar brightness, despite the subtle brightness changes in images of these two arrays."

In a child friendly sort of "habitat", therefore, 6-day-old chicks were placed in a similar experimental situation. While ants and rats had been used in these experiments, it was a little unusual to be watching birds doing this in a white circular arena, with sawdust on the floor and a central lamp.

The animals in this type of research don't seem to navigate by odour, colour or pattern. Instead, shape and terrain seem to subtly influence areas of the brain (hippocampus in the rat) to search out 3D characteristics they can recognise. Three-year-old children for example found two smooth parallel bumps in the floor were easy to re-orient to.

Much more than by chance every chick searched according to the arena's geometry. In the figure, they can be noted to be randomly searching when in the 2D form and column experiment. At no time did the chicks find geometric opposites any different for their searches. The 2cm border and the curved bumps proved useful to orientation, presumably because they guided the chick to feeding containers (with mealworms inside) buried at each corner of a rectangle buried in the sawdust. A visible and vivid black rectangle or four vertical black columns proved less useful to the chick. In these cases, they just searched randomly.

Basically the vivid panorama which looks a useful guide to both children and chicks is useless. Only 3D situations seemed to influence these naive individuals. Further research will shed more light on how we manage to use our brain to store an "image" in three dimensions that can be used to navigate.


Trending Eco-Friendly Clothing

Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Love My Planet women's eco-friendly relaxed fit hoodieSize Guide Centimeters 8 10 12 14 16 18 Bust 84 88 92 97 103 108 Waist 66 70 75 80 85 91 Hips 91 95 99 104 109 116 Bust: Measure around the fullest part of...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Penguins Hate Push-Ups men's eco-friendly pullover HoodieSize Guide Centimeters XS S M L XL XXL Height 171 175 179 183 189 195 Chest 86 93 99 104 116 129 Waist 71 76 81 89 99 112 Chest: Measure all round your chest just below...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Lightning Bolt Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Notify me
Lightning Bolt Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Lightning Bolt kids eco-friendly long sleeve t-shirtSize Guide Centimeters 3-4yrs 5-6yrs 7-8yrs 9-10yrs 11-12yrs Height 98 112 125 136 147 Chest 60 66 70 75 84 Chest: Measure all around your chest just below your armpits. Height: Your natural height If you fall between...
£18.00
£18.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Notify me
Union Jack Tote Bag
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Union Jack Tote Bag
Union Jack eco-friendly colour tote bagProduct Specification Organic Cotton Tote Bag. Twill Weave (170gsm). 37 x 42 cm (7cm gusset.) Made in India / Designed on the Isle of Wight. Wash Cool, Hang Dry.
£16.00
£16.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Prev Post
Next Post

Eco-Friendly Shop

Women's Clothing

Eco-Friendly Clothing for Women Our online shop offers a wide range of sustainable women’s clothing products, including t-shirts, hoodies, vests, sweaters, shorts, and...
Shop Now

Men's Clothing

Eco-Friendly Clothing for Men Our online shop offers a wide range of sustainable men’s clothing products, including t-shirts, hoodies, vests, sweaters, shorts, and...
Shop Now

Kids Clothing

Eco-Friendly Clothes for Kids Our online shop offers a wide range of sustainable kids clothing products, including t-shirts, hoodies and jumpers. Our garments...
Shop Now
Someone recently bought a
[time] ago, from [location]

Thanks for subscribing!

This email has been registered!

Shop the look

Choose Options

Earth Times
Sign up for exclusive updates, new arrivals & insider only discounts

Recently Viewed

Edit Option
Back In Stock Notification
this is just a warning
Login
Shopping Cart
0 items

Before you leave...

Take 20% off your first order

20% off

Enter the code below at checkout to get 20% off your first order

CODESALE20

Continue Shopping