Magneto-reception
In the winter of 1997, Vladimir Markov, in Primorsky Krai, Russia’s far east, injured an Amur tiger by shooting it, and stealing its hunt – a wild boar. What follows next is a chilling tale of pursuit and vengeance over the next 48 hours with the tiger ultimately killing Markov. It is presumed that the tiger followed the scent of Markov and even destroyed the cabin and other things that smelled like Markov.
Felids are known to have a far better retentive memory than canids, and the felids use visual and olfactory cues to assist in the short-term and long-term memories. Could this have been a real story of the animal seeking revenge (which is not uncommon amongst intelligent forms of life, such as elephants) or just a concocted or fictionalized account?
The stories documented from the tropical forests of India are even more intriguing and preposterous.
In a bid to repopulate the tigerless Panna Tiger Reserve, a male tiger, christened T-3, was relocated to Panna (from Pench TR, a few hundreds of KMs away). The relocation happened in November 2009 and by the next month, T-3 started to walk in the direction of his home i.e., Pench TR. Negotiating unfamiliar and uncharted territories, T-3 covered 442 Kms in about 41 days, navigating through even the busiest of human habitations, before he was finally located, tranquilized and shifted back to Panna.
The interaction of magnetic fields and biological organisms is scientifically accepted, though the understanding of mechanism of this interaction is still elementary, despite having been investigated for more than half a century.
This extra sensory perception of magnetic field is known as magnetoreception. Research as of today is mainly based on three hypotheses – a biochemical compass based on radical-pair mechanism, biogenic magnetites and electromagnetic induction.
It is highly likely that all felids exhibit exceptional somatosensory perception – ability to perceive slightest changes in touch, pressure, temperature, vibration etc. Additionally, with a larger brain (also relative to body size), Tigers are not only the most intelligent of all extant felids, but also possess extensively complex brain synapses and dendritic (extensions of nerve cells) densities as high as those of elephants.
All of this coupled with magnetoreception and a complex and highly evolved set of organs which are overly sensitive to olfactory, visual and auditory changes should not surprise us of a tiger’s supernatural ability – to traverse long distances or homing (navigating to home territory).
Tiger or a suspended bar-magnet?
A recent scientific paper suggested a new hypothesis - geomagnetic imprinting (on turtles and salmon) – magnetic intensities vary at different places on earth and these animals seem to imprint on the magnetic field, both intensity and inclination angle, of their natal areas and use this information for homing. It is highly likely that resident tigers or leopards imprint on many other cues, as they perfectly seem to find the direction back home.
Understanding the ability to navigate long distances and the homing tendencies of tigers or other big cats is particularly important in the discipline of translocations/relocations, and rescue or rehabilitation of temporarily abandoned cubs (In a study published in 1922, Professor Francis Herricks observed the homing ability of a domestic cat returning to her separated kittens, at distances ranging from 1 to 4 miles).
Homing tendencies aside, most animals (and tigers) also seem to display bonding, at quantum level. As per Bell’s theorem (in quantum mechanics), the quantum state of a pair of widely separated physical objects is entangled, which means, the influence of one half of the pair is seen on the other.
As recent as February 2019, a male tiger T-98 went on a quest for his mate T-106. T-106 was translocated to Mukundara Hills TR in December 2018, from Ranthambore TR. T-98 migrated all the way to Mukundara Hills TR; circumnavigating the very densely populated towns and villages between Ranthambore and Mukundara Hills; around 200 Kms away. It is beyond human understanding as to how a tiger could go in search of his missing mate or could it be just one of the implications of quantum mechanics as explained by Bell’s theorem?
Our understanding of nature remains rudimental at best, yet we chose to rule (mould and destroy) the planet with an authority conferred by none other than ourselves. Whether tigers use magnetoreception or navigational tools such as orientation by sun, stars, polarized light etc., they perfectly seem to reach their destination (except in cases limited by anthropocentric activity). And tigers, like most of the nature’s greatest fauna, remain enigmatic.
Further reading:
Feline homing instincts | Animal Wellness Magazine
Magnetoreception molecule found in the eyes of dogs and primates | Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (mpg.de)