4 Things About Pigeons

4 Things About Pigeons

Intelligence

Pigeons are a model species for cognition and are smarter than everyone thinks. The avian brain has compacted nerve cells for faster info processing - meaning they have incredible potential and can get conditioned to stimuli easily, learning quickly.

Generally, it's accepted that corvids are cleverer because they have more brain cells, yet, in terms of cognition - it's speculated brain cells aren't the best predictor - as more cells don't necessarily correlate with greater cognitive capacity (more so equates with learning speed and concept application for situational adjustment).

Pigeons have demonstrated ability to pass the 'mirror test' with consistent training, seemingly capable of self-recognition and differentiating between itself and other pigeons. They are one of six species and the only non-mammal to pass it. They have used mirrors to identify a part of their body which they cannot see directly for grooming.

Furthermore, pigeons have gotten trained to recognise all 26 alphabet letters, tell the difference between words and strings of letters (likely due to visual pattern interpretation), distinguish between photographs and humans in them, match art with the artist and perceive different artstyles, multitask, plus discriminate water body and tree types. These attributes all highlight their visual prowess as well.

Arguably, the most impressive feat is their ability discern between benign (harmless) and malignant (invasive) cancer growths. With one, the diagnosis is ~85% accurate, whilst with a whole group, it's a near perfect 99%.

Disease?

Pigeons are undeservingly one of the most hated birds due to myths popularised by media/film. People often call them 'rats with wings' (and rats are also cleaner than people think) - when there's lacking evidence indicative of any substantial disease transmission.

Despite this, there are/were still famous icons that love(d) them - such as Charles Darwin, Nikola Tesla, Mike Tyson, Elvis Presley, Walt Disney and Maurizzo Gucci.

'Messenger' Pigeons

During the world wars, trained pigeons actually saved hundreds of thousands of lives by carrying vital messages over enemy lines, where ~90% got shot or poisoned by gas. They were even on ships in convoys, so if there was an attack - a messenger pigeon or more would get released with location details.

Moreover, there were search and rescue pigeons that helped identify + confirm said ships, stranded people or people in water with their specialised avian vision. Ultraviolet light surrounds people in water, so regarding their unique perception, pigeons were adept at locating survivors.

Otherwise, messenger pigeons were long-distance mail deliverers, which was the fastest communication system for centuries. The highest recorded speed of a pigeon is 92.5mph (average ~60), and they can fly over 1000km in one day.

Navigation

Similarly to bees, pigeons have their own magnetic 'compass'/'map', using the sun as a guide, except the structure(s) and info collection processes are still largely unknown. Although, it's speculated that electroreceptive molecules in hair cells that reside in the ear's semi-circular canals are what helps them process magnetic field changes (involving direction, polarity and intensity).

Their sensitivity to said factors allows them to determine their direction and altitude, to the point of finding their way home for a bit over 2000km away, even if they've gotten transported blindly with no sensory info. It's theorised that olfaction (smell) is significantly involved in their 'map', with an estimated range of ~500km. Other hypothesised aspects include following roads, associating landmarks with location, and their sense of infrasound for low frequency seismic waves.

Infrasound travels long distances, so it's conceivable pigeons can hear it from hundreds of kilometres away, which could influence their navigation. For instance, infrasound can entail volcano eruptions and storms, which they can pick up before meteorologists do - then maybe flying away/keeping their distance for safety.