Figure 1. Homing flight release protocols.

(a) Experimental group; (b) control groups. In each chain of the experimental group, a single pigeon (orange) was first released from the same site repeatedly 12 times, then partnered with a naive pigeon (red) and flown as a pair a further 12 times. The first bird was then replaced by a third bird (green) and this new pair (red+green) was also released 12 times. This procedure continued until the fifth-generation bird (grey) was added and flown a final 12 times. In the control groups (b), single pigeons and fixed pairs were released the same number of times as the total flown by the experimental group (60 flights). All three treatment groups contained 10 independent replicates (chains, solo birds or pairs).