Sense
Magnetoception (or magnetoreception) is the ability to detect the direction one is facing based on the Earth's magnetic field. Directional awareness is most commonly observed in birds, which rely on their magnetic sense to navigate during migration. It has also been observed in insects such as bees. Cattle make use of magnetoception to align themselves in a north-south direction. Magnetotactic bacteria build miniature magnets inside themselves and use them to determine their orientation relative to the Earth's magnetic field.
Magnetoreception
Subsequent research has examined magnetoreception in a more natural setting. Under typical circumstances, red-spotted newts ("Notophthalmus viridescens)" respond to drastic increases in water temperature (which tend to indicate environmental deterioration) by orienting themselves toward the shoreline and heading for land. However, when magnetic fields are experimentally altered, this behaviour is disrupted, and assumed orientations fail to direct the newts to the shoreline. Moreover, the change in orientation corresponds to the degree by which the magnetic field is shifted. In other words, inversion of the magnetic poles (a 180° shift) results in inversion of the typical orientation (a 180° shift). Further research has shown that magnetic information is not only used by red-spotted newts for orientation toward the shoreline, but also in orientation toward their home pools. Ultimately, it seems as though red-spotted newts rely on information regarding the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation within their environment, in particular when orienting toward the shoreline or toward home.