Remaining cohesive on the move can be beneficial for animal groups. As such, animal groups have evolved coordination mechanisms such as leadership to resolve navigational conflicts of interest. Consistent “leaders” may have an intrinsic advantage over “followers” which compromise on their preferred route to retain cohesion, which highlights the question of the inter-individual variation (phenotype) that can predict leadership. Studies in both birds and fish have revealed that intrinsically faster individuals can lead movements, and leading movements propagate from the front edge of the flock/shoal. However, these experiments are generally conducted in relatively “familiar” environments, where the degree of compromise between the “leaders” and “followers” is low. We suggested that inter-individual differences in route efficiency, while not explanatory of leadership from familiar locations, may emerge as predictors of leadership from unfamiliar locations. We tested this prediction – and the potential impact of multiple other behavioral, morphological and “in-flight” phenotypes on leadership – using two groups of homing pigeons (Columba livia) (N = 16), a classic model species of leadership. We recorded N = 966 unique GPS trajectories from birds in (i) solo and familiar, and (ii) solo and unfamiliar contexts to measure solo speed and solo route efficiency; and (iii) group and familiar, and (iv) group and unfamiliar contexts to assess group leadership. Pigeon leadership hierarchies were similar across environmental context (i.e., familiarity). However, we found that no covariates could consistently predict leadership score in either context.

在移动中保持凝聚力可能对动物群体有益。因此，动物群体已经进化出协调机制，例如解决航行利益冲突的领导力。与“追随者”相比，一致的“领导者”可能具有内在优势，后者会在他们首选的路线上妥协以保持凝聚力，这突出了可以预测领导力的个体间差异（表型）的问题。对鸟类和鱼类的研究表明，本质上更快的个体可以引领运动，并且领先的运动从羊群/浅滩的前沿传播。然而，这些实验通常是在相对“熟悉”的环境中进行的，“领导者”和“追随者”之间的妥协程度较低。我们建议路线效率的个体间差异，熟悉的地点，可能会成为来自不熟悉地点的领导力预测指标。我们使用两组信鸽 ( Columba livia ) ( N  = 16)（一种经典的领导模式物种）测试了这一预测——以及多种其他行为、形态和“飞行中”表型对领导力的潜在影响。我们记录了N = 966 条独特的 GPS 轨迹，来自 (i) 单独和熟悉的鸟类，以及 (ii) 单独和不熟悉的环境，以测量单独的速度和单独的路线效率；(iii) 小组和熟悉的环境，以及 (iv) 小组和不熟悉的环境，以评估小组领导力。鸽子领导层级在环境背景下（即熟悉度）是相似的。然而，我们发现在这两种情况下，没有协变量可以一致地预测领导力得分。