Ancient Fossils Show Animals Used Earth's Magnetic Field For GPS-Like Navigation

Scientists have discovered that animals may have been using Earth's magnetic field to navigate for tens of millions of years. By studying tiny fossils found on ocean floors, researchers have found evidence of a "biological GPS" called magnetoreception, reported Space.com.

While scientists have known that many animals like birds and sea turtles use this system, they still do not fully understand how it works.

Scientists from the University of Cambridge and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin studied tiny fossils called magnetofossils. These fossils were found in 97-million-year-old sediments and show signs of magnetoreception. Rich Harrison of Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences, who co-led the study, explained that the organisms that created these fossils were likely able to accurately determine direction and location.

To study these fossils, researchers used a new technique called magnetic tomography. This technique allows scientists to view the structure inside an object through magnetic fields. Claire Donnelly of the Max Planck Institute in Germany developed this technique because ordinary X-rays cannot see inside large magnetofossils. Donnelly said that mapping the internal magnetic structure was an exciting achievement and revealed how organisms navigated millions of years ago.

The team used this technique at the Diamond X-ray Facility in Oxford. They observed that the structure of tiny magnetic fields generated by the rotating electrons indicates that the organisms that created these fossils possessed magnetoreception.