Pigeons Might Be Way Smarter Than We Give Them Credit For

There's no need to feel superior about our big human brains the next time we see a pigeon trying to choke down a discarded gum wrapper. What looks to us like a dumbo bird that doesn't know what food is might actually be a series of "highly intelligent choices, sometimes with problem-solving skills to match," according to research from the University of Iowa.

Despite their stellar homing skills, ability to recognize themselves on video and other signs of cleverness, pigeons don't typically attract the bird-genius plaudits that humans grant to thieving magpies and talking parrots. But the blah-gray lumps bumbling about on our sidewalks are far from airheads, says Edward Wasserman, who teaches experimental psychology at UI. To prove it, his team gave laboratory pigeons tests that involved pecking at virtual food bowls to unlock real-word rewards – a task that the animals aced up to 90 percent of the time.