Those poor poor migratory birds.

[The Peon]

I was watching a show the other day which stated that the poles might reverse one day soon. Well.. as most of us know, certain migratory birds, even messenger pigeons use the magnetic field as a compass. So if the poles reverse, does that mean many birds will migrate "north" instead of "south" due to the pole shift? What will happen to them? Would this pole shift possibly cause a mass extinction for many species?

[LucidDreamer]

That’s an interesting question and I have thought about that too. This is a total random guess, but I would say no. I think we would have observed large bird extinctions during periods in the past where the poles change, and I haven't heard that before. So I'm assuming that birds also use other methods to find their direction, like the position of the sun and landmarks. I would also guess that young birds learn which direction to fly from the older birds as well as instinct and the birds learn which direction in their internal compass is the correct direction to fly by using other tools to determine their way. Plus the change of the pole’s polarity isn't instant and the birds would have some time to adjust, and any birds that were unable to adjust would have died out during past polarity changes.

[The Peon]

Are there any other animals which would be effected by a polar shift? I remember reading somewhere some ants use magnetic fields as a compass as well.

[Hellbender]

it is postulated that many animals, including some fish (like salmon) and cats have adaptations that aloow them to navigate this way. I don't know anything about earth's poles reversing (or how it would work, if it is even possible, I'm no geologist), but would it effect the climates as well?