Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way

by David Barrie

Overview

“Just astonishing . . . Our natural navigational capacities are no match for those of the supernavigators in this eye-opening book.”—Frans de Waal, The New York Times Book Review

Publisher’s note: Supernavigators was published in the UK under the title Incredible Journeys.

Animals plainly know where they’re going, but how they know has remained a stubborn mystery—until now. Supernavigators is a globe-trotting voyage of discovery alongside astounding animals of every stripe: dung beetles that steer by the Milky Way, box jellyfish that can see above the water (with a few of their twenty-four eyes), sea turtles that sense Earth’s magnetic field, and many more. David Barrie consults animal behaviorists and Nobel Prize–winning scientists to catch us up on the cutting edge of animal intelligence—revealing these wonders in a whole new light.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615196692
Publisher:	The Experiment
Publication date:	06/09/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	650,944
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

David Barrie, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, has sailed all over the world and made many long passages. After studying experimental psychology and philosophy at Oxford University, he served in the British Diplomatic Service, then worked in the arts and as a law-reform campaigner. His book Sextant was shortlisted for the Mountbatten Literary Award and won the Royal Institute of Navigation’s Certificate of Achievement. The great-great-nephew of J. M. Barrie, he is married with two daughters. Learn more at davidbarrieauthor.org.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Part I Navigating without Maps 1

1 Mr. Steadman and the Monarch 3

2 Jim Lovell's Magic Carpet 11

3 A Tangled Horror 19

4 Of Desert Warfare and Ants 28

5 The Dancing Bees 37

6 Dead Reckoning 46

7 The Racehorse of the Insect World 55

8 Steering by the Shape of the Sky 67

9 How Birds Find True North 75

10 Heavenly Dung Beetles 82

11 Giant Peacocks 89

12 Can Birds Smell Their Way Home? 98

13 Sound Navigation 107

14 The Earth's Magnetism 120

15 So How Does the Monarch Navigate? 129

16 The Silver "Y" 138

17 The Dark Lord of the Snowy Mountains 143

Part II The Holy Grail 157

18 Map and Compass Navigation 159

19 Can Birds Solve the Longitude Problem? 170

20 The Mystery of Sea Turtle Navigation 181

21 Costa Rican Adventures 191

22 A Light in the Darkness 199

23 The Great Magnetic Mystery 212

24 The Seahorses in Our Heads 220

25 The Human Navigational Brain 231

Part III Why Does Navigation Matter? 239

26 The Language of the Earth 241

27 Conclusions 250

Acknowledgments 257

Selected Bibliography 259

Notes 263

Index 293

Interview with the Author 301

About the Author 306

Editorial Reviews

"Barrie tells astounding tales of how various animals navigate the world and the equally intriguing stories of the scientists who study them."

Science

"Only a sailor could relate the navigational powers of both humans and animals with such appreciation, excitement, and precision. Thank you, David Barrie, for taking us along on these riveting voyages by sail and wing, hoof and flipper. We arrive surprised, delighted, and awed."

Sy Montgomery

"Many . . . exceptional navigators . . . are humble and unsung, and learning about them is one of the pleasures of Supernavigators."

The New Yorker

"[Barrie’s] book about remarkable feats of migration by animals explores the front lines of research into how they do it."

The Scientist

"[Barrie] is passionate about navigation and describes in delightful detail the myriad ways in which animals get around. . . . The number of animals traveling long distance, from insects to sea turtles, and from eels to whales, is just astonishing, as are the many ways in which they find their way. . . . Whenever our smartphone lacks satellite service, we still need to tap into our natural navigational capacities even if they are no match for those of the supernavigators in this eye-opening book."

Frans de Waal

"A 2019 Nautilus Gold Award Winner, Animals & Nature
A Sunday Times Best Nature Book of the Year

"We meet some animals that use sense of smell, others that navigate based on polarized light, others on magnetism. It seems that there are as many ways to find your way as there are species [Barrie writes] about."

Ari Shapiro

"Very enjoyable. Barrie is a charming guide as he leads us through the science to the wonder."

Tristan Gooley

"Well written and accessible, this book will lead readers to conclude that animals are amazing, as is researchers’ ingenuity."

Choice

"In this exhilarating popular study, David Barrie reveals the roots of navigational prowess."

Nature

"Barrie tells astounding tales of how various animals navigate the world and the equally intriguing stories of the scientists who study them."

Science

"In this exhilarating popular study, David Barrie reveals the roots of navigational prowess."

Nature Lib

A 2019 Nautilus Gold Award Winner, Animals Nature
A Sunday Times Best Nature Book of the Year

“We meet some animals that use sense of smell, others that navigate based on polarized light, others on magnetism. It seems that there are as many ways to find your way as there are species [Barrie writes] about.”—Ari Shapiro, All Things Considered

“[Barrie] is passionate about navigation and describes in delightful detail the myriad ways in which animals get around. . . . The number of animals traveling long distance, from insects to sea turtles, and from eels to whales, is just astonishing, as are the many ways in which they find their way. . . . Whenever our smartphone lacks satellite service, we still need to tap into our natural navigational capacities even if they are no match for those of the supernavigators in this eye-opening book.”—Frans de Waal, The New York Times Book Review

“A must-read for anyone fascinated with the wonders of nature.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Well written and accessible, this book will lead readers to conclude that animals are amazing, as is researchers’ ingenuity.”—Choice

“Barrie’s passion makes him an engaging guide, flitting from fact to anecdote like a butterfly hunting for nectar.”—New Scientist

“In this exhilarating popular study, David Barrie reveals the roots of navigational prowess.”—Nature
 
“David Barrie is an engaging explorer, enthusiastically celebrating the skill of creatures as fascinating as they are enterprising.”—Sunday Express

“Many . . . exceptional navigators . . . are humble and unsung, and learning about them is one of the pleasures of Supernavigators.”—The New Yorker

“Barrie tells astounding tales of how various animals navigate the world and the equally intriguing stories of the scientists who study them."—Science

“Very enjoyable. Barrie is a charming guide as he leads us through the science to the wonder.”—Tristan Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator

“Supernavigators is filled with marvels. . . . Understanding the wonders of animal navigation may help us appreciate the small and large miracles that surround us.”—Foreword Reviews, starred review

“[Barrie’s] book about remarkable feats of migration by animals explores the front lines of research into how they do it.”—The Scientist

“Readers interested in natural history or biology will find this stimulating.”—Library Journal

“Only a sailor could relate the navigational powers of both humans and animals with such appreciation, excitement, and precision. Thank you, David Barrie, for taking us along on these riveting voyages by sail and wing, hoof and flipper. We arrive surprised, delighted, and awed.”—Sy Montgomery, author of How to Be a Good Creature

“Animal migration is all around us, as visible and as invisible as magnetism and gravity and as scientific, magical, and wondrous. David Barrie has done a superb job of elevating the invisible and shining light onto what most of us only glimpse from time to time. Like all migrations, this book itself is a homecoming of sorts.”—Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words and What Animals Think and Feel

“Immensely entertaining . . . What is engrossing about Barrie’s book is not just the remarkable behavior of the individual animals—the blind Mexican cave fish that uses the pressure waves from its own motion to detect different objects; the spiny lobsters that form long, straight conga lines of up to 200 meters as they trudge nose-to-tail into the deep—but the often painstaking detective work undertaken by the scientists . . . all you can do is gasp in amazement.”—The Sunday Times
 
“A wonderfully refreshing read.”—Navigation News magazine
 
“A compelling investigation of navigation in the animal kingdom. Dung beetles steer by the stars. Dragonflies hitch a lift on monsoon winds. And it seems that ants might measure how far they’ve travelled by counting their steps. Who knew?”—Mail on Sunday Top 100 Summer Reads

From the Publisher

…David Barrie, who himself has sailed the oceans using a sextant, is passionate about navigation and describes in delightful detail the myriad ways in which animals get around…in this eye-opening book.

The New York Times Book Review - Frans de Waal

★ 03/18/2019

Barrie (Sextant), a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation, masterfully conveys new discoveries about animal navigation in this impressive popular science work. In addition to the usual suspects, such as the Monarch butterfly, Barrie relates the achievements of more obscure creatures, including the desert ants of North Africa, which use the sun as a compass. He notes that insect brains, despite their tiny size, consistently “generate an impressively diverse repertoire of navigational behavior.” Even the lowly dung beetle is featured, as it is able to roll balls of dung in a straight line—backwards. Each chapter contains a surprise even for those familiar with the topic, such as the theory that homing pigeons make use of smell to navigate. Barrie cleverly stokes readers’ curiosity about the subject with short sections at the end of each chapter describing even more remarkable, still unexplained feats, such as two-inch-long dragonflies that fly at least 3,500 kilometers over the ocean without stopping. More generally, he expresses a wish that what’s been learned about the “neuroscience of navigation” in many species, including humans, might overcome anthropocentrism, driving home that “we are animals too.” This is a must-read for anyone fascinated with the wonders of nature. Agent: Catherine Clarke, Felicity Bryan Associates. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Animal migration is all around us, as visible and as invisible as magnetism and gravity and as scientific, magical, and wondrous. David Barrie has done a superb job of elevating the invisible and shining light onto what most of us only glimpse from time to time. Like all migrations, this book itself is a homecoming of sorts."

Carl Safina

"Barrie’s passion makes him an engaging guide, flitting from fact to anecdote like a butterfly hunting for nectar."

New Scientist

"David Barrie is an engaging explorer, enthusiastically celebrating the skill of creatures as fascinating as they are enterprising."

Sunday Express

"Supernavigators is filled with marvels. . . . Understanding the wonders of animal navigation may help us appreciate the small and large miracles that surround us."

starred review Foreword Reviews