Topic: African mole-rats

The ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field and use it for orientation and navigation is widespread in the animal kingdom. The neuronal mechanisms of this sensory ability are, however, still poorly understood. African mole-rats are subterranean mammals that are suggested to use magnetic cues for orientation in their dark tunnels. We ask which brain regions are involved in the magnetic sense and how magnetic cues are neuronally encoded in this mammalian model. First, we looked for a robust behavioral assay to demonstrate the perception of magnetic fields. We present the results of two appro