The 'enduring' mystery of how birds know when Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is filling with water
By Bethanie Alderson for ABC News on 28 June, 2025.
Perhaps this is related to Rupert Sheldrake's work on the mystery of how homing pigeons know how to return home.
Feel free to post other examples of unexplained animal knowledge. A general example I can think of is that of so-called "instinct": how an animal from birth knows what (s)he needs to do to survive and interact as that animal, which doesn't seem to be explicable merely in terms of genes.
By Bethanie Alderson for ABC News on 28 June, 2025.
Quote:Several theories of how birds know when Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is filling exist, including them having the ability to detect infrasound, barometric pressure or smell the flooded salt flats on the breeze.
"There's been theories like scouts … if pelicans send up observers to go and recce inland sites and come back and tell their mates that there's food on offer," Mr Pedler said.
"I guess there's some rationale for that because pelicans can fairly easily fly long distances, they get up to high altitude on thermals and then they can cruise and go for a look.
"It's still an open case and there's a lot more work to understand this really fascinating behaviour."
Perhaps this is related to Rupert Sheldrake's work on the mystery of how homing pigeons know how to return home.
Feel free to post other examples of unexplained animal knowledge. A general example I can think of is that of so-called "instinct": how an animal from birth knows what (s)he needs to do to survive and interact as that animal, which doesn't seem to be explicable merely in terms of genes.
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