Study: Pigeons are watching you

Sélectionné par la rédaction

Par Le Figaro pour le cercle :

Pigeons are much smarter than they will have you think.

An experiment conducted by a team from the University of Paris Ouest-Nanterre, published in the online journal “Animal Cognition”, shows that these hardcore urban birds are very perceptive. Even from a distance, they can recognize people who feed them regularly.

Two researchers fed pigeons every day in a corner of the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, closed to the public. One of them acted benevolently, the other was hostile. One month later, they came back dressed in long raincoats, leaving only their faces visible. The pigeons recognized them: they went to the “nice” feeder and ignored the “mean” one.

All pigeons are therefore capable of recognizing and avoiding those who dislike them and chase them away as soon as they land. This ability to distinguish their benefactors from their enemies using only their faces also helps explain why they thrive in cities better than other species. Parisians, who find there are too many pigeons in the capital, have another reason to worry: pigeons are the only birds to reproduce all year long.

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