Hippocampal Lesions Impair Navigational Learning in Experienced Homing Pigeons

Adult experienced homing pigeons from Maryland were subjected to hippocampal lesion and then transferred to a new loft in Ohio to examine what effect such treatment may have on learning to navigate to a new home loft. When subsequently released from an unfamiliar site, the hippocampal lesioned birds were impaired in taking up a vanishing bearing toward their new Ohio loft. This deficit is interpreted as an impairment in hippocampal-lesioned birds learning a new navigational map. Together with a previous study, the results suggest that an intact hippocampus is necessary if young naive or adult experienced homing pigeons are to learn a navigational map.