Home Beckons.....
Animal migration is a well- known phenomenon and most of us
do not give much thought to it. If we do think about it in passing, we would
imagine that weather and food would be the driving reasons for the animals and
birds to migrate and that they must be
genetically programmed to manage the migration process. But in this fascinating
book ‘The Homing Instinct’, Bernd Heinrich creates scientific poetry by delving
deep into the mechanisms and mysteries of animal migration: how geese imprint
true landscape memory; hoe scent trails are used by many creatures from fish to
amphibians, to pinpoint heir home if they are displaced from it; and how the
tiniest of songbirds are equipped for solar and magnetic orienteering over vast
distances.
It will surprise the reader on realizing that even
butterflies can migrate over hundreds of miles and some ocean birds can fly
thousands of miles without even stopping once! And over the vast ocean
landscape how do they even know where they are? Many, many more similar
mysteries are covered in this wonderful book. Another real surprise is the deep
physiological emotions showed by many creatures when they get back to their
home, that Bernd highlights with a beautiful example of the sandhill cranes.
With this as a back ground Bernd then builds up a larger
story of what a home means to animals as well as humans and what a home and its
creation means for human happiness and survival. The variety of creatures that
Bernd covers is mind boggling – from cranes, albatrosses, loons, geese, pigeons
to locusts, bees, dragon fly, butterflies, and then to ants, beetles and
leeches and goes on to Turtles, Salmon, Eels and many more!
Once in a while, Bernd gets carried away with personal
stories and a couple of chapters do get really boring with his hunting stories
along with his nephew!. But barring that, the book is an amazing read and a
great example of how science can be practiced by observing even the most
routine happenings in Nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment