Journal article
Rapid longitudinal flights cause time shifts and Sun compass error
- Abstract:
- Many animals use the Sun compass to guide their movement, sometimes over thousands of kilometers. Consistent use of the Sun compass relies on the endogenous clock to track the Sun's arc, yet animals traveling east-west experience time shifts, potentially causing mismatches between their internal clock and local time. Using GPS, we reveal that Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus) experience such shifts during homing flights, generating predictable errors in Sun compass orientation. Use of the Sun compass persists even when shearwaters have access to compass-independent cues during coast following. Our findings provide a new avenue for chronobiology research in the wild, suggesting that rapid longitudinal movements may affect other processes governed by the endogenous clock and that conserved chronobiological mechanisms impose substantial constraints on navigation.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 1.6MB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1126/science.adz2542
Authors
+ Royal Society
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/03wnrjx87
- Grant:
- URF/R1/231289
+ Leverhulme Trust
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/012mzw131
- Grant:
- RPG-2020-311
+ Natural Environment Research Council
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/02b5d8509
- Grant:
- NE/W001217/1
+ Ministry of Science and Higher Education
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/05dwvd537
- Grant:
- 2021/40/C/NZ8/00043
+ Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/00cwqg982
- Grant:
- BB/M011224/1
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Journal:
- Science More from this journal
- Volume:
- 394
- Issue:
- 6823
- Pages:
- 520-524
- Publication date:
- 2026-10-29
- Acceptance date:
- 2026-08-21
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1095-9203
- ISSN:
-
0036-8075
- Language:
-
English
- Pubs id:
-
2489987
- Local pid:
-
pubs:2489987
- Source identifiers:
-
W7222973107
- Deposit date:
-
2026-11-01
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Lewin et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2026
- Rights statement:
- © 2026 the authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original US government works.
- Notes:
- The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record