Theory 10/Navigation
Compass Needs Clock Accuracy
The claim
Monarch navigation accuracy is set by the ratio of circadian clock precision to the rate the sun moves, so a slightly inaccurate clock produces a large directional error.
01Mechanism
The butterfly compensates for the sun's movement using a time-compensated compass; error in time maps to error in heading.
02Predictions
- P1Heading error should track clock error.
- P2Sun position alone should mispredict.
03Refutation
Heading tracking sun azimuth would remove the clock.
04Why it resists the grid
It requires an inherited map, a learned clock and a learned correction, with none of the three sufficient alone.