British zoologists have shown that pigeon flock is able to disobey the leader, leading it in the wrong direction, and gradually push it to the lower levels of the hierarchy.
If the leader of the pack gives the pigeon is obviously incorrect indication direction of flight, the group, together, can "undo" his instructions - and the flock will move in the right direction, and the head begins to lose credibility quickly. Until now it was thought that such decisions are firm, and the error spread from the leader to the lowest level of the hierarchy pigeon, nothing in it is essentially not changing. This Oxford zoologists write in the journal Biology Letters.
One of the authors of Isobel Watts (Isobel Watts) explains: "Previous studies of migratory pigeons found their" navigational hierarchy ", where the position of each individual associated with its individual weight, the degree of influence on decision-making in choosing the direction of flight. In our work, we were interested in birds, located at the top of this hierarchy, the degree of control over the behavior of the leader of the pack during the migration. Like its broadcast solutions from top to bottom? Strictly whether they perform inferior, or they too can contribute to the final result? "
To find out, the scientists decided to increase the number of erroneous decisions made by the leader of the pack, for which a dove was placed in a room where the alternation of light and bright artificial light periods did not coincide with the daily cycle outside. This method causes the disruption of circadian rhythms and reduces the possibility of a dove guided by the sun. These experiments were performed on eight pigeon flocks, each of which scientists have tracked the movement leader and four birds with help of GPS-sensors. In some "jet lag" versions created only at the leader, in others - in the pack, in the control variant in what scientists did not intervene.
As might be expected, in violation of navigation for all birds in a flock and then they lost their way during migration. However, the pack where the wrong decisions are made by a leader, fly, adhering to his usual best course. Moreover, such a leader is rapidly losing credibility and weight in the hierarchy. These GPS-observations show that he gradually moved from the "responsible" in the first rows of the pack closer to its tail, and the hierarchical structure is updated.
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