Researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill made a groundbreaking discovery about sea turtles’ ability to navigate feeding sites using Earth’s magnetic field. Lead author Kayla Goforth, a recent doctoral graduate in the College of Arts and Sciences’ biology department, found that loggerhead turtles can learn to associate specific magnetic signatures with food.
Goforth, who is now conducting postdoctoral research at Texas A&M University, began her graduate studies by observing sea turtles returning to familiar feeding sites despite traveling long distances. She hypothesized that these turtles use the Earth’s magnetic field to memorize geographic areas associated with food.
In collaboration with her husband and colleagues from the Lohmann Lab, Goforth designed an experiment where she conditioned loggerhead turtles to recognize specific magnetic fields by repeatedly feeding them in certain environments while not feeding them in others. When later exposed to these same fields, the turtles exhibited a distinctive “turtle dance” behavior, indicating that they had associated the specific magnetic signature with food.
Further research revealed that there are two distinct mechanisms for navigation: one related to detecting magnetic maps and another related to using magnetic compasses to orient themselves. The team found that radiofrequency oscillating magnetic fields disrupted the turtles’ ability to use their magnetic compass but not their map sense.
This discovery has been published in the prestigious international science journal Nature, shedding new light on how sea turtles navigate during long migrations. Goforth continues her research at Texas A&M, studying monarch butterflies and seeking answers to the fundamental question: what is the mechanism behind the magnetic sense?
Source: https://www.unc.edu/posts/2025/02/12/dancing-turtles-unlock-scientific-discovery