Homing

Homing is the process of returning to a past location in space

There are many reasons why animals do this, from returning to a nest like a bird to eels which migrate thousands of kilometres over the open ocean to return to their ancestral homes to reproduce.

Although homing is poorly understood, it is thought to be driven by a combination of (depending on the species):

Memory of previous locations and mental maps (lobsters)

Chemical trails (ants)

Magnetic fluctuations in the earth’s crust (birds)

There are probably many more factors, currently unknown to science

Homing is distinct from migration because it is a return to a location, rather than a departure to look for food (even though both involve returning to a location)

A salmon is able to return home to it's birthplace by smelling the river. This is: