Birds take it in turns to lead

Scientists have worked out how flocking birds solve the “social dilemma” of who leads the flock.

Researchers from the UK, Germany and Austria studied the northern bald ibis, tracking precisely how this species – like many large birds – maintains a “V” formation when migrating.

They found that birds took it in turns to take the very energy-depleting lead.

This allowed every bird to take advantage of extra lift produced by the wings of the bird in front.

The time bird A is in front of bird B correlates almost exactly with the amount of time it’s the other way around – they’re taking it in turns”

Lead researcher Bernhard Voelkl from the University of Oxford’s department of zoology said that he wanted to know how the birds worked together to deal with the “very high cost” of migration.

In a previous study of the same rare birds, Dr Steven Portugal and his colleagues revealed why birds fly in a V formation

Careful analysis of how and where the birds shifted position as they flew, showed that birds were working in pairs, repeatedly swapping around between follower and leader.

“What we saw was that, for each bird, there’s a very clear correlation between the time it spent in front, and the amount of time it followed another bird,” said Dr Voelkl.

“So the time bird A is in front of bird B correlates almost exactly with the amount of time it’s the other way around; they’re taking it in turns.”

The researchers had expected that the birds would be co-operating in some way, but were surprised that the pattern was so clear and that the mechanism was so simple.

“It’s crucial because these migrations are very tough for the birds,” said Dr Voelkl. “And by reducing the amount of energy they use, they can really increase their [chance of] survival.

“They don’t have to watch all the other birds in the flock – they just have to match to one other bird, so it’s very simple, but also robust.”

Dr Voelkl thinks this “pairwise matching” as he refers to it, is likely to be used by many more bird species that undertake exhausting annual journeys.

Source: BBC

N.H.Khider

You might also like
Latest news
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria: Reports about United Nations evacuating all its s... Army General Command: The Syrian people are facing systematic media and terrorist war aiming at dest... Syrian Army Eliminates large numbers of Terrorists, destroys dozens of their vehicles in northern Ho... Presidency of the Republic: President Al-Assad is assuming his work, national and constitutional dut... Lavrov: Russia, Iran, Turkey agreed on facilitating the stopping of military operations in Syria, st... Iran reaffirms ongoing support for Syrian people, government Russian and Iraqi foreign ministers discuss situation in Syria and its serious impacts on the region... Damascus International Airport operating at full capacity, news about stopping operations is not tru... The Russian "Roads of Glory - Our History" movement condems the terrorist organizations' attack on S... Baghaei: Allegations about the evacuation of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus are not true 27 martyrs in Israeli occupation massacres in Gaza A statement by the General Command of the Army and Armed Forces Joint statement of the foreign ministers of Syria, Iraq and Iran: "Threatening Syria’s security enda... Friends of UN Charter condemn terrorist attacks in Syria Foreign Ministers of Syria, Iraq and Iran hold joint press conference on the situation in Syria Iraqi President reaffirms need to preserve Syria's unity and sovereignty Israeli occupation forces raid Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza, force medical staff and patients to lea... The Syrian Army eliminates dozens of terrorists in Hama countryside Lavrov: Information indicates the United States, Britain support terrorist groups in northern Syria Fayyadh: Syria’s security cannot be separated from Iraq’s