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Mitochondrial Respiration Rose 58–87% After Homing Flights in Pigeons

Rock pigeon in flight against the sky
Research: Physiology, Molecular biology & biochemistry

Red-blood-cell mitochondria responded strongly after free homing flights in pigeons (Columba livia) studied in Guidonia near Rome, Italy. Unlike mature mammalian red blood cells, avian red blood cells retain mitochondria, making it possible to measure their cellular respiration directly. Researchers combined GPS and accelerometer data with mitochondrial measurements taken before and after flight to test whether cellular energy metabolism reflected the effort of free flight.

The study used homing pigeons from a loft in Guidonia in experiments conducted in 2021 and 2025. Thirty-two birds — 17 males and 15 females — were selected, and 20 returned to the loft on the same day and could be sampled while their physiology still represented the immediate post-flight response.

Three respiration measures rose after flight

ROUTINE respiration, which reflects overall oxygen use by intact cells, increased by 58.2% after flight. OXPHOS, the component linked to ATP production, increased by 62.8%, while the maximum electron-transport-system capacity, ETS, increased by 87.3%. The increases occurred in both sexes.

The homing trips averaged 78.7 kilometres. Males and females did not differ clearly in flight duration, distance, speed, altitude or number of stops. Females nevertheless had higher vectorial dynamic body acceleration, or VeDBA, which reflects the intensity of body movement, and higher post-flight aerobic mitochondrial metabolism.

Similar flights hid different energetic patterns

The relationship between movement effort and mitochondrial metabolism differed between the sexes. In males, higher VeDBA was associated with higher post-flight ROUTINE and OXPHOS respiration. In females, both measures decreased as VeDBA increased. The authors discuss several possible physiological and behavioural explanations and do not attribute the pattern to a single mechanism.

Males appeared to have higher mitochondrial coupling efficiency — a greater share of respiration linked to ATP production — than females in models that did not account for body mass. Once body mass was included, the sex difference was no longer clear, indicating that the apparent difference was explained by males being heavier.

The study shows that outwardly similar flight performance can coincide with different physiological responses. It also demonstrates that mitochondrial measurements from avian red blood cells can reflect energetic changes associated with free flight, linking biologging of movement directly with cellular metabolism.

Sources and image credit

  1. Casagrande, S., Gómez-Laich, A., & Dell’Omo, G. (2026). Similar flight performance but sex-specific mitochondrial responses in free-flying pigeons. Biology Letters, 22(7), 20260225.Peer-reviewed primary study. Homing pigeons housed in Guidonia near Rome were measured before and after free homing flights using biologging and red-blood-cell respirometry.

Image: TRinaud / Wikimedia Commons — rock pigeon in Soyaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, photographed 28 April 2024; representative species image · CC BY 4.0 · Source

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