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<\/p>\nResearchers recorded neural activity in bats navigating in the wild, revealing a sophisticated internal \u201ccompass\u201d that functions independently of celestial cues like the moon and stars.<\/p>\n
Unlike migratory birds that rely on Earth’s magnetic field, bats’ head-direction neurons consistently fired based on learned landmarks, maintaining directional stability regardless of altitude or environmental modifications.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While celestial bodies may help calibrate the compass early on, the study confirmed that bats do not require them for navigation, suggesting a reliance on terrestrial landmarks.<\/p>\n
Head-direction cells exist across species, including likely humans, offering insights into neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s that impair spatial memory.<\/p>\n
The study highlights the necessity of conducting neuroscience outside controlled lab settings to uncover real-world neural behaviours, bridging gaps in understanding navigation and cognition.<\/p>\n
For the first time, researchers have recorded the neural activity of mammals navigating in the wild, revealing that bats rely on a sophisticated internal \u201ccompass\u201d that functions independently of celestial cues like the moon and stars.<\/p>\n
The study, conducted on the remote Latham Island off the Tanzanian coast and published in Science<\/em>, provides unprecedented insights into how mammals orient themselves across large geographical areas. In 2018, Prof. Nachum Ulanovsky of the Weizmann Institute of Science embarked on a global search for the perfect natural setting to study mammalian navigation.<\/p>\n \u201cI was looking for an area that was large enough to release bats and follow how they navigate, but not too large, with no tall trees and isolated from other land<\/em>,\u201d Ulanovsky explained. After painstakingly scanning satellite images, he discovered Latham Island \u2013 a rocky, uninhabited patch roughly the size of seven soccer fields, located 40 kilometres east of Tanzania.<\/p>\n Equipped with camping gear, satellite communication devices and cutting-edge neuroscientific tools, Ulanovsky’s team set up a makeshift laboratory on the island. They implanted tiny neural loggers \u2013 GPS-enabled devices capable of tracking brain activity at the single-neuron level \u2013 into six Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus<\/em>).<\/p>\n However, their first expedition in February 2023 faced unexpected challenges. \u201cCyclone Freddy, the longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded, was still raging about 1,500 kilometres to the south<\/em>,\u201d Ulanovsky said. High winds grounded the bats for a week before conditions improved. A follow-up trip in 2024 proceeded smoothly, allowing researchers to gather crucial data.<\/p>\n A stable, landmark-based compass<\/strong><\/p>\n Led by Shaked Palgi, Dr. Saikat Ray and Dr. Shir Maimon, the team recorded the activity of over 400 neurons in brain regions associated with navigation. They found that specific neurons fired consistently when bats faced particular directions, forming an \u201cinternal compass.\u201d Unlike migratory birds, which rely on Earth’s magnetic field, the bats’ compass appeared to depend on learned landmarks.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the big questions in mammalian navigation is whether head-direction cells function as a local compass or as a global one<\/em>,\u201d Ulanovsky said. The study confirmed the latter: \u201cNo matter where the bat is on the island and no matter what it sees, specific cells always point in the same direction \u2013 north stays north and south stays south<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Remarkably, the bats’ compass remained stable regardless of altitude, speed or coastline changes. Initially, neural activity was unstable, suggesting a learning period.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the third night, the bats’ compass orientation became very stable<\/em>,\u201d Ulanovsky noted. This gradual adaptation pointed toward landmark-based navigation rather than magnetic fields.<\/p>\n While celestial bodies like the Moon and stars aid navigation in some species, the bats’ compass remained unaffected by their presence or absence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found that the Moon and stars are not essential for bats to navigate,<\/em>\u201d Ulanovsky said. However, he speculated that celestial cues might help calibrate the compass early on, providing an \u201cabsolute truth<\/em>\u201d to accelerate learning.<\/p>\n Implications for human navigation and disease research<\/strong><\/p>\n Head-direction (HD) cells are evolutionarily conserved across species, from flies to rodents to bats, and likely humans. Understanding these mechanisms could shed light on neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, which impair spatial memory.<\/p>\n HD cells are a unique type of neuron discovered in the brains of rats and subsequently found in other mammals, including humans. These cells were first described in the early 1990s by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and they play a crucial role in spatial cognition and navigation.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil recently, a person unable to navigate would not have survived<\/em>,\u201d Ulanovsky remarked. \u201cEven today, being able to orient oneself can be a lifesaver<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The study also underscores the importance of conducting neuroscience research in natural environments.<\/p>\n \u201cOur findings show there is no substitute for testing lab-based knowledge in the real world<\/em>,\u201d Ulanovsky said. \u201cWe hope our study will encourage other groups to take their research out of the lab and into nature<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n By bridging the gap between controlled experiments and real-world behaviour, this research offers a deeper understanding of how brains navigate complex environments, revealing that sometimes the most profound discoveries come from the most unexpected places.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n yogaesoteric <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers recorded neural activity in bats navigating in the wild, revealing a sophisticated internal \u201ccompass\u201d that functions independently of celestial cues like the moon and stars. Unlike migratory birds that rely on Earth’s magnetic field, bats’ head-direction neurons consistently fired based on learned landmarks, maintaining directional stability regardless of altitude or environmental modifications. While celestial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1369],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-technology-1602-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220616"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220776,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220616\/revisions\/220776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJanuary 10, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n