(Source: https://threader.app/thread/1466629235041206272)
Archosauria
Birds
Many birds (probably most) possess some homing ability. In birds a major aspect of the homing capacity appears to be magnetic sense.
Pegion Utilization
Since they were used early by the H, Iranians & Romans they were probably even used by early IEans: in support of this contention, homing is alluded to in the RV & the RV also mentions the pigeon as the messenger of the goddess nirR^itti & yama.
They were extensively used in both world wars testifying their effectiveness.
There were also Homing Pigeons mentioned by Kautilya: I wonder how effective and widespread they’re in deliverying messages. The Sultan Baybars had great success against the crusaders after setting up pigeon posts across his realm.
Someshvara
someshvara-deva on pigeon husbandry:
स्थापयेद् दम्पती राजा सदृशौ वर्ण-रूपतः ।
पतिव्रता भवन्त्य् एताः पारापत-कुलाङ्गनाः ॥
He notes the monogamous nature of pigeons.
पारापतश् च स्वगृहं प्रवेशयति नेतरम् ।
गलघूर्णितनादेन फुल्लद्रुतगलेन च॥
He also notes the mating call & throat puffing during mating. Importantly he notes the mating ritual with some precision:
प्रसारितेन पुच्छेन प्रियां दृष्ट्वा प्रनृत्यति ।
चुम्बति प्रेयसीं प्रीत्या परिवृत्य मुहुर्मुहुः ॥
The male regurgitates food to feed the female in the ritual; he records this as chumbati.
He then records their use as messengers:
तम् एकं पञ्जरे कृत्वा नीत्वा दूरं समुत्सृजेत् ।
लेखपत्रं समासज्य कण्ठे तं मोचयेन् नरः ॥
They are trained to carry letters on their neck. He gives us useful information that the old Indian messenger pigeon flew upto 30 yojana-s i.e. 390 km
त्रिंशद् योजन-पर्यन्तम् अह्ना याति स्मरन् प्रियाम् ।
पवित्रा दर्शनीयाश् च राज-कार्योपयोगिनः ॥
Crocodiles
Many crocodiles (general sense) also possess strong homing ability over 100s of kilometers in several cases.
In the case of some crocodiles there is a bit of a paradox. The saltwater crocs have spread from all the way from India to Australia via sea; yet, they home over long distances. However, ironically both depend on the same ability of efficient navigation at sea and by rivers using favorable water currents to their advantage. When the current is favorable they use it to drive their travel at rates of up to 20 km per day over several days.+++(4)+++ One croc homed by covering 411 km in 20 days. But when the current is not favorable they dive down and wait or come a shore if close to a bank/shore.
In American crocs putting strong magnets on their heads before release in a distant site is anecdotally reported to prevent homing. This suggests that the ancestral archosaur was capable of homing in using a magnetic sense.+++(4)+++
Common techniques
However, it is not clear if the magnetic sense is all there is to homing (birds are said to also use stars and smell, though to what extent is unclear). It is also not clear how this magnetic sense is translated into navigation.
Birds tend to take the shortest paths which they can going by air so the initial orientation is key. At least in migratory birds they sweep their head in peculiar way so that their eyes ‘‘see the geomagnetic field’’ before taking off.
The crocs however do not have that luxury in terms of a straight path but seem to optimize path for available waterways. The Taittirīya-śruti seems to have cryptic statement which might be one of the first records of an unusual sense that birds use to see ‘‘something’’ on the earth.
Dogs
(Source: https://threader.app/thread/1466635587910311943)
I came across some rather interesting work by a certain zoologist Müller from Basel who did meticulous experiments with homing in dogs that to my knowledge have never been repeated. He made several interesting observations.
Based on their behavior he classified the dogs into 3 ranks that in principle might have corresponded to their place in the ancestral wolf-pack state. Dominant curs α-s; middle ranked β-s and low-ranked submissive ω-s. He found that only α-s and high β-s were able to home successfully.+++(5)+++ This is keeping with earlier observations with army dogs that only some of them home. It suggests that keeping home range is important for α-s. ω-s tended to find street dog companions if available or human dwellings.
He found that the homers went through an initial phase of orientation at the unknown release site. Once that was achieved, he claimed, they tended to advance home along short paths without being distracted unlike a dog exploring its typical range.
They tended to not to keep their nose to the ground as they do when navigating by scent. Instead, he states that they held their head high in an unusual posture and had a strange look in their eye. He even states that they might collide with obstacles when swiftly moving towards their home suggesting they were not visually very attentive to their immediate surroundings. This again hints a magnetic sense although by no means has that been confirmed or mechanistically understood.+++(4)+++