Pigeons navigate using magnetic sensors in livers — study

Deutsche Welle · 🇩🇪 public Germany · May 29, 2026 · 776 words · By Mark Hallam

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What to know about Pigeons navigate using magnetic sensors in livers — study

Pigeons navigate using magnetic sensors in livers — study May 29, 2026Day or night, rain or shine, wherever they're released, trained pigeons can find their way home over distances as high as almost 1,000 kilometers (around 600 miles).

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

It's a skill humans have made use of since time immemorial.

Common ground

And for around a century, scientists have known that magnetoreception plays a part in the birds' navigational cocktail.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Pigeons navigate using magnetic sensors in livers — study?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that The immune cells in question are located near nerve cells in the liver?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dw.com/en/pigeons-livers-may-enable-magnetic-navigation-when-the-sun…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

verified Verified By Reference 4

schedule Pending 4

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Claim 1: “The immune cells in question are located near nerve cells in the liver.”

CORROBORATED

The journal Science and accompanying news reports (EurekAlert!) specifically mention electron microscopy showing macrophages in contact with nerve fibers in the liver.

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web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2026 ... Here, we used physical, morphological, functional, and genomic assays to identify the presence of superparamagnetic macrophages in the liver. We ...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady2486

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web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2026 ... Electron microscopy image of pigeon liver tissue shows hepatic macrophage (blue) in contact to nerve fiber (yellow), which enables them to ...
https://www.mpg.de/26511515/pigeons-navigate-using-magnetic-…

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web search NEUTRAL — May 29, 2026 ... Pigeons navigate with their livers! Macrophages help them sense Earth's magnetic field. Here, we make our case with tracking data from pigeons ...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DY6-N20Iftd/

verified

Claim 2: “Macrophages are immune cells that break down old red blood cells.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Authoritative medical sources (Cleveland Clinic, PMC, British Society for Immunology) confirm that macrophages are immune cells that break down old red blood cells.

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web search NEUTRAL — Macrophages tightly control the production and clearance of red blood cells (RBC). During steady state hematopoiesis, approximately 1010 RBC are produced ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3906564/

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 12, 2025 ... Macrophages are immune cells that destroy germs, damaged cells and cancer cells ... Breaking down old red blood cells and recycling the iron ...
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/macrophages

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web search NEUTRAL — Macrophages are specialised cells involved in the detection, phagocytosis and destruction of bacteria and other harmful organisms.
https://www.immunology.org/public-information/bitesized-immu…

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Claim 3: “In World War II, British military intelligence's obscure subsection MI14(d) ran Operation Columba”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 4: “Ancient Greeks used pigeons to deliver news of Olympic winners and victories in battles.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While Wikipedia entries for Ancient Greece and the Olympics were provided, none of the provided evidence mentions the use of pigeons to deliver news of Olympic winners or battle victories.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Macedonians (Ancient Greek: Μακεδόνες, Makedónes) were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Es…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Macedonians

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The ancient Olympic Games (Ancient Greek: τὰ Ὀλύμπια, ta Olympia), or the ancient Olympics, were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Olympic_Games

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In Ancient Greece, the history of running can be traced back to 776 BC. Running was important to members of ancient Greek society, and is consistently highlighted in documents referencing the Ancient …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_in_Ancient_Greece

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Claim 5: “superparamagnetic macrophages in the liver [were identified]”

CORROBORATED

The claim is explicitly confirmed by the journal Science and multiple news reports detailing the identification of superparamagnetic macrophages in the pigeon liver.

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web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2026 ... We propose that in homing pigeons, superparamagnetic macrophages in the liver are required for finding magnetic direction. Related Research ...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady2486

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Claim 6: “The Romans used a pigeon network to accelerate communication across their vast military empire.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided Wikipedia entries for the Roman Empire describe the empire's scale and fall, but do not mention a pigeon network for military communication.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Western_Roman_Empi…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity comprising and controlling much of Central Europe and Western Europe, headed by the Holy Roman …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Roman Empire was a state that dominated the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa during the classical period. The Roman Republic had previously conquered most of these …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire

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Claim 7: “after macrophage depletion, pigeons flying under overcast conditions lacked their usual orientation capabilities”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (BioPatrika, Sci.News, and other reports) state that pigeons with depleted macrophages lost their orientation capabilities under overcast conditions.

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web search NEUTRAL — May 29, 2026 ... If you remove the macrophages, pigeons can still find their way back under sunny conditions, probably using the sun and visible landmarks. But ...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DY6-N20Iftd/

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 1, 2026 ... Scientists have identified supermagnetic macrophages in the livers of homing pigeons (Columba livia domestica) that appear essential for ...
https://www.sci.news/biology/pigeon-magnetoreception-14809.h…

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 4, 2026 ... When these cells were experimentally depleted, pigeons flying under overcast skies lost their ability to orient toward home. However, when ...
https://biopatrika.com/science-society/homing-pigeons-use-ma…

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Claim 8: “Pigeons carried messages from the front lines back to command posts in World War I”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 9: “When the sun was visible, the birds' orientation was unimpaired”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that when the sun was visible, the birds' orientation remained unimpaired despite macrophage depletion.

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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago · When these liver macrophages were depleted, pigeons struggled to navigate under overcast skies, when the sun was not visible. On sunny days ...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/30702500626030375/posts/3697…

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web search NEUTRAL — After macrophage depletion, pigeons flying under overcast conditions lacked their usual orientation capabilities. The superparamagnetic macrophages appear ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoreception

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web search NEUTRAL — May 28, 2026 · During the day, pigeons use the position of the Sun to orient themselves. But when it's cloudy and completely overcast, they rely on their ...
https://www.science.org/content/article/mind-blowing-iron-ri…

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Claim 10: “physical connections in more intuitive locations — like the beak, eyes and brain — have already been identified [for magnetic reception]”

CORROBORATED

Web search results mention theories and evidence of magnetoreception in the eyes (light-sensitive molecules) and the beak (iron-rich structures).

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web search NEUTRAL — Magnetoreception is a sense which allows an organism to detect the Earth's magnetic field. Animals with this sense include some arthropods, molluscs, and ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoreception

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web search NEUTRAL — May 29, 2026 · Some theories suggested birds could detect magnetic fields through light-sensitive molecules in their eyes. Others pointed to tiny magnetic ...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260529043640.h…

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web search NEUTRAL — Iron-rich structures have been described in the beak of homing pigeons, chickens and several species of migratory birds and interpreted as magnetoreceptors.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3552369/

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Claim 11: “More than 16,000 pigeons previously being used by hobby sports enthusiasts were airdropped into occupied France or other nearby countries in canisters.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 12: “A research team from the University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior wrote in the journal Science this week that a core part of the secret to homing using magnetic fields may lie in the birds' livers.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent news sources (EurekAlert!, ABC News, and a Science journal reference) confirm a study by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior published in Science regarding the liver's role in magnetic homing.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (German: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and nonprofit association…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck_Society

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Max Planck Institutes are research institutions operated by the Max Planck Society. There are over 80 institutes. Most of them are located in Germany, although there are other locations in other Europ…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Max_Planck_Institutes

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik, MPIM) is a research institute located in Bonn, Germany. It is named in honor of the German physicist Max Planck an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck_Institute_for_Mathe…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 13: “In 1850, Julius Reuter in Belgium used pigeons to carry news and stock prices between Brussels and Aachen, Germany”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 14: “trained pigeons can find their way home over distances as high as almost 1,000 kilometers (around 600 miles)”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia explicitly states that homing pigeons' average flying speed is measured over distances of 965 km (600 miles), confirming the distance capability.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) is a type of large language model (LLM) that is widely used in generative artificial intelligence chatbots. GPTs are based on a deep learning architecture ca…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_pre-trained_transfo…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A train (from Old French trahiner, from Latin trahere, "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.