The pigeon also distinguishes caste in the herd

Research by scientists from Oxford University, England and University of Eotvos, Hungary, pigeons also know to respect "democracy" in the flight process.

All pigeons in the flock are involved in "planning" decisions and regulating the activities of the flying herd.

To prove the conclusion, the scientists attached a small global positioning system (GPS) to the body of more than 10 pigeons to observe their actions during flight.

Through the GPS navigation system, scientists easily identify "leaders" and "employees" in birds.

Normally, "leader" flies in front of the flock, but most low-status "employees" can also affect the direction of the flock.

According to Professor Dora Biro, a zoologist at Oxford University, previous research has speculated that the flight direction of pigeons can be determined by one or several "leaders."

However, in fact the mechanism to determine the decisions of the birds is very "mature and sophisticated", each bird can be constituted in some form to the action of the whole herd.

This mechanism ensures that individuals can influence the group, and help the birds to perform virtuoso techniques.

However, Professor Dora Biro also said that although each bird can participate in the decision, but not completely equal.

In a group of birds do not have a special leader, however, there is no decision-making mechanism to ensure all birds can "vote" equally.

Although birds can participate in "voting", the role of the "ballot" determines the position of each bird. A relatively high position bird can plan a relatively large decision.

In addition, the role of the bird decision is higher than that of a low position bird.

The decision of a low-status bird can only affect other birds with lower status. This is not a complete democratic system, but a caste system.

Professor Laine Cousins ​​of Princeton University, the US said that the study has shown for the first time that the caste mode of animals actually originates from very complex collective action. At the same time, the research results have provided new methods in studying the collective action of animals.