How do animals find their way home?

Animals find home by using natural clues: the sun, smells, landmarks, stars, and even Earth's magnetic field. Different species rely on different senses. A salmon can follow stream scents, while some birds use an inner sense of north during long trips.

That means home is not always a place an animal sees. For a sea turtle, it may be a coastline remembered through chemistry and magnetism. For a pigeon, familiar roads and rivers become a mental map spread out below its wings.