We already knew that they are rather good at finding their way home. But it seems that pigeons have another remarkable talent – they can count. Researchers found the birds could compare pairs of images involving up to nine objects and order them by the lower to higher number. Until now, only humans and other primates were thought to be able to use abstract numerical rules in this way.
“Our research not only shows that pigeons are also members of this exclusive club, but, somewhat surprisingly, their performance is on a par with that of monkeys,” said Dr Damian Scarf, of the University of Otago in New Zealand. “Our findings add to a growing body of evidence that pigeons are among a number of avian species exhibiting impressive mental abilities that really do give the lie to the old ‘bird brain’ insult,” said Dr Scarf.
