Pigeons Are So Smart They Can Diagnose Cancer

It’s easy to dismiss pigeons as the dopes of the bird world, pecking eagerly at chewed gum and cigarette butts and getting totally owned by beta predators like turtles and rats. But relegating pigeons to dunce status would be to ignore a long line of science indicating the contrary.

Pigeons have learned the ability to count items in groups of three, and to apply that basic math knowledge to suss out the value of higher quantities—something humans can’t do until roughly age four. Their perception skills are diamond-sharp: they can recognize themselves in mirrors and pick out paintings made by the same artist. Everyone’s favorite behavioral psychologist, B.F. Skinner, had great faith in their brains. He taught them how to steer simulated missiles during World War II and even how to play a rudimentary version of ping-pong.