Abstract

Air pollution, especially haze pollution, is creating health issues for both humans and other animals. However, remarkably little is known about how animals behaviourally respond to air pollution. We used multiple linear regression to analyse 415 pigeon races in the North China Plain, an area with considerable air pollution, and found that while the proportion of pigeons successfully homed was not influenced by air pollution, pigeons homed faster when the air was especially polluted. Our results may be explained by an enhanced homing motivation and possibly an enriched olfactory environment that facilitates homing. Our study provides a unique example of animals’ response to haze pollution; future studies are needed to identify proposed mechanisms underlying this effect.

Highlights

  • Air pollution, especially haze pollution, is creating health issues for both humans and other animals

  • We used multiple linear regression to analyse 415 pigeon races in the North China Plain, an area with considerable air pollution, and found that while the proportion of pigeons successfully homed was not influenced by air pollution, pigeons homed faster when the air was especially polluted

  • We initially expected that pigeons would home more slowly due to the low visibility and potential negative health effects associated with air pollution

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Summary

Results

Variables Weather Sunny Cloudy Overcast or rainy Wind Tailwind Variable Headwind AQI Released pigeons Returned pigeons Average beeline distance (km) Homing time (h) Temperature (°C) Average home speed (km/h) Homing rate. (β ± SE = 0.096 ± 0.188, t = 0.511, P = 0.61), AQI (β ± SE = − 0.018 ± 0.013, t = −1.363, P = 0.17), distance (β ± SE = − 0.022 ± 0.014, t = − 1.561, P = 0.12), and weather (β ± SE = 0.005 ± 1.351, t = − 0.004, P = 0.99) had no effects on homing rate. This model explained only 4.4% of the total variance

Discussion
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Materials and Methods
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