Navigating Through an Asymmetrical Brain: Lateralisation and Homing in Pigeon

The ability of homing pigeons to find their way back home after displacement has fascinated researchers for more than a century. Pigeons rely on a map-and-compass system to navigate, especially when released from an unfamiliar site. Olfactory cues and the sun’s azimuth provide, respectively, primarily a navigational map and compass information to accomplish this task. Magnetic cues provide subsidiary compass information. In addition, pigeons can also rely on a spatial representation of the visual landmarks when navigating over familiar terrains. The neural structures underlying these capabilities have been thoroughly investigated. Taking advantage of the neuroanatomical organisation of the avian brain, several studies have addressed lateralisation (i.e. the functional contribution of the left and the right sides of the brain) of homing behaviour. A survey of the most recent contribution to this topic will be presented, with particular attention to the olfactory system, the visual system and the hippocampus.