The study demonstrates that homing pigeons can achieve collective route improvements through simple averaging mechanisms rather than complex cognitive abilities.

A tale of two birds: cognitive simplicity drives collective route improvements in homing pigeons hypothes.is/a/_ZIT4D5UEfGHsQMDmOlOWA **Reviewer #2 (Public review):** Summary: The manuscript investigates which social navigation mechanisms, with different cognitive demands, can explain experimental data collected from homing pigeons. Interestingly, the results indicate that the…

A tale of two birds: cognitive simplicity drives collective route improvements in homing pigeons hypothes.is/a/_fUfRD5UEfGHsjcMwBf1Yg **eLife Assessment** This study addresses an important question and shows how social navigation in homing pigeons can be explained by simple averaging, without requiring any complex cognitive abilities. The evidence, based on a rigorous and systematic…

A tale of two birds: cognitive simplicity drives collective route improvements in homing pigeons hypothes.is/a/_cSmcD5UEfGT6M8wXRlrDw **Reviewer #1 (Public review):** Summary: This study investigates how collective navigation improvements arise in homing pigeons. Building on the Sasaki & Biro (2017) experiment on homing pigeons, the authors use simulations to test seven…