They may only have a brain the size of a thimble, but it appears pigeons can categorise and name objects in the same way a human children learn new words
A new study from the University of Iowa has shown that the birds are capable of learning to categorise 128 different photographs into 16 basic categories. cientists taught three pigeons to attribute different breeds of dog or types of shoe, for example to a particular symbol in exchange for a reward
When they were shown black and white pictures of previously unseen dogs or shoes, the birds were able to correctly attribute these to the corresponding symbols