Clever pigeons

Peppa, the pigeon on the left, has been with us for a long time.  She normally roosts indoors but has recently taken over a cat pen, she can come and go as she wishes.   She’s a stay at home bird though and doesn’t like to go far.   When Albine came in with injuries we had to keep her on her own for a while.  When she recovered we put her with Peppa and they get on together just fine.

Pigeons are the most intelligent of all birds, they are used a lot in research into behaviour because they have an excellent memory and can easily be trained.  Their visual memory is impressive and relieable, they can distinguish identities and emotional expressions, also letters of the alphabet and even differentiate between paintings done by Monet and Picasso.  The University of California has done a recent study of pigeons and found that they can easily recall more than 1800 images.

Because they are so bright they have been used to detect cancerous tissue and can make a diagnosis just like human radiographers.   The pigeon is quicker though!   Amazing isn’t it?

Next time you have a chat with one of our pigeons just remember that she’s likely to remember you for a very long time.