HOMING pigeons have been fitted with sat-nav devices to monitor how they “vote” on which flight paths to choose when they are in a flock.

New research carried out by Oxford University’s department of zoology used tiny GPS backpacks to record the flight paths of individual pigeons and analyse interaction between the birds.

Scientists began their research with homing pigeons at a field station near Oxford and completed the study in Budapest, Hungary.

The findings could help people understand the collective behaviour of other animals, including humans, according to Dr Dora Biro, one of the paper’s authors.

She said: “The new technology has been incredibly helpful in terms of mapping what the homing pigeons do during their flights.

“Beforehand, we could only record what the pigeons did when they took off and when they landed, but the mapping devices give us much more detailed information.

“We studied the flights of 10 birds on a 15km journey across Budapest and we didn’t lose any – they all came home with the devices attached to their backs.

“Most of the pigeons we used were males because they are slightly bigger and better suited to carrying the devices.

“How flocks decide where to go, and whether decisions are made by a dominant leader or by the group as a whole, has always been a mystery.

“In this latest research, we found that, while most birds have a say in decision-making, a flexible system of ‘rank’ ensures that some birds are more likely to lead and others to follow.”

She added: “Perhaps the findings are particularly relevant at this time when British voters are about to go to the polls.

“The pigeons’ hierarchy could change over the course of a journey, with a bird rising through the ranks.”

As part of the study, miniature GPS devices weighing just 16g were fitted into custom-made backpacks carried by flocks of up to 10 homing pigeons.

These enabled scientists to explore spatial relationships between individual birds, and the movement decisions they made.

The team measured shifts in the flight direction of each bird every 0.2 seconds and checked the changes across different birds in the flock to determine which ones initiated any change in direction and which followed.

The research revealed well-defined hierarchies within flocks.

The team also discovered that a bird’s position in the flock matched its position in the hierarchy, with individuals nearer the front more likely to make decisions, while followers responded more quickly to those flying on their left.

This confirmed observations in the laboratory that suggested birds process social information – such as tracking and responding to the movements of other birds – predominantly through input the brain receives from the left eye.

A report of the research, carried out by scientists from Oxford University and Eötvös University in Hungary, was published earlier this month in the journal Nature.