JANUARY 2011: My Surface Interval named one of the best scuba diving blogs

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Sharks have inbuilt mental sat navs

Some shark species have inbuilt sat nav systems and make "mental maps" of their home ranges, allowing them to pin-point destinations up to 50km (30 miles) away, research suggests.

BBC environment correspondent Richard Black writes that data from tagged tiger sharksfound they took directed paths from place to place while other species such as blacktip reef sharks did not.

Researchers suggest this shows a capacity to store maps of key sites. It is further evidence that the great fish can navigate, possibly using the Earth's magnetic field.

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