An Oxford University boffin has won a £15,000 science award after she tracked the movements of homing pigeons by attaching them with – mini SAT-NAV kits.
Dr Dora Biro, 34, a researcher in the university’s zoology department, was one of four women across the country to win the L’Oréal Unesco For Women in Science Award.
She fitted the tiny gizmos to 10 pigeons which recorded their speed and flight patterns over a nine mile (15km) course in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
The sat-navs – attached to each bird in a miniature back-pack – also recorded the spatial relationship between individual birds.
Dr Biro said: ”I am delighted to get this award – you don’t usually get recognised like this in the world of academia.
”The prize is designed to encourage young women to go into science and to encourage women who are thinking of leaving their jobs to stay in them.”
