DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Roller Pigeons
HTML https://rollerpigeon.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Genetics
*****************************************************
#Post#: 8885--------------------------------------------------
Can rolling be an addictive behavior?
By: mumtaztic Date: September 13, 2011, 7:44 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Hello guys,
I wrote the following for my website and I thought I would share
it with you and see what you think about it. To read more,
visit:
HTML http://mumtazticloft.com/PigeonGenetics2.asp
Pigeons are amongst the most intelligent birds. According to a
study conducted by the University of Montana, the pigeon is one
of the smartest, most physically adept creatures in the animal
kingdom.
Pigeons have featured in numerous experiments in comparative
psychology, including experiments concerned with animal
cognition, and as a result we have considerable knowledge of
pigeon intelligence. Pigeons are one of the most intelligent
birds; they are one of only few species to pass the “mirror
test” of being able to recognize their own reflection - which
tests whether an animal recognizes its reflection as an image of
itself - along with common chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans,
dolphins, African grey parrots, crows, magpies, elephants, and
humans.
Researchers found that wild, untrained pigeons can recognize
individual people's faces and are not fooled by a change of
clothes. Pigeons have been credited with having similar levels
of "intelligence" as those found in a three-year-old child, a
study from Keio University, Japan has claimed. The pigeon could
discriminate the present self-image and the recorded self-image
of the past with a few seconds delay, which means that the
pigeon has self-cognitive abilities. In other words, the birds
were able to remember their own movements enough to identify the
birds on the screen as themselves, even after the delay. This
ability is higher than an average three-year-old human.
So, next time some ignorant person says something derogatory
about your pigeons and your hobby, you can use the following as
your comeback: “My pigeon is smarter than your 3 year old!”
Previous research by the Keio University team in 1995,
demonstrated that pigeons were able to differentiate between
paintings of Picasso and those of Monet. The authors of this
research, Watanabe, Sakamoto and Wakita, won the humorous Ig
Nobel Prize in psychology for this work.
In another study, researchers led by Joël Fagot of the
Mediterranean Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience tested pigeon
and baboon memories. For each memory trial, the animals viewed a
randomly selected picture on a computer screen with two color
choices illuminated. Since the correct response was randomly
chosen, yet permanently assigned at the outset, the task
required memorization of each picture and its associated
response.
Baboons memorized a minimum of 3,500 to 5,000 items and didn’t
reach a limit at the end of the three to five-year study.
Pigeons memorized 800 to 1,200 pictures before reaching their
limit, a capacity that is considerable and would represent a
rich library of information and experience to draw on during
their daily activities. You might grumble at being called
"birdbrained", but next time someone calls you "pigeon brained,"
take it as a compliment.
The researchers have found that brain of the pigeons process the
information in much the same manner as mammals even though
brains of the birds, unlike brains of mammals, do not have a
neo-cortex. Birds’ intelligence is found in the large amount of
tissue in another part of the brain, the paleocortex.
A research done by Donald Blough and John Franklin uncovered the
ability of pigeons recognize the 26 letters of the English
alphabet although his study suggested that letters that look
similar, such as “u” and “v”, scored high rate of error (34%).
According to Blough and Franklin, the results resembled those
generated from similarity judgments by humans, suggesting
cross-task and cross-species generality in processes of letter
discrimination.
In addition, similar experiments had shown that pigeons can be
trained to distinguish between photos showing human beings and
those that do not, and between photos showing trees and those
that do not. Experiments with music also showed pigeons
discriminating between the composers Bach and Stravinsky, and
accurately classifying intermediate musical styles.
Operant conditioning, or trial-and-error learning, is another
type of associative learning. B.F. Skinner put lab animals in a
box with a variety of levers. Test animals learned to choose
only those levers that yielded food. Operant conditioning is a
process where an animal learns to associate one of its behaviors
with a reward or punishment and then tends to repeat or avoid
that behavior.
These types of experiments, was pioneered by the psychologist
B.F. Skinner, who showed birds could be conditioned to perform
complex tasks to get food. The experiments were done in a
"Skinner Box" where birds were rewarded with food, when they
pressed the lever indicating the correct answer. I think the
most important part of Skinner’s experiments was when he noticed
that when food was given randomly, pigeons developed behavior
akin to human superstition – performing repetitive, meaningless
behaviors, like a gambler in a casino.
According to Psychologist Professor Thomas Zentall and Jessica
Stagner, from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the
results of these experiments suggest that pigeons appeared to be
psychologically hooked and show a tendency to make maladaptive
decisions much the same way as humans who buy lottery tickets
and visit casinos. Researchers trained the birds to peck on two
keys. One key always gave three food pellets.
If a pigeon pecked a different key it might get 10 pellets,
though most likely none at all. Still, the researchers found
that once the birds experienced winning big, most of them tended
to hit the key that offered the possibility of hitting the
jackpot. This behavior shows pigeons prefer an all-or-nothing
outcome rather than the guarantee of a much smaller reward. The
researchers say this runs contrary to optimal foraging theory,
which says animals evolve to make the most rational choices
possible to guarantee their survival.
Instead it seems pigeons behave more like human gamblers,
risking everything for the small chance of a big return.
However,"pigeons should avoid a poor gamble" Professor Zentall
added, because it might affect their survival. This behavior of
taking changes even with their lives sometimes, might explain
the reasons why some homing pigeons (when unconditioned and/or
exhausted) still try to find home and die trying. Sometimes deep
rollers attempt to roll at low altitudes and crash.
I have seen pigeons taking huge risks with their lives while
maneuvering around predators at the last second. On multiple
occasions I have seen a peregrine falcon dive on pigeons and
they continue to fly like nothing is about the attack them. They
hit the brakes (stall) at the last second and watch the falcon
dive by and miss them. Off course, we know that falcon doesn't
always miss. Many times, I have also witnessed that flock of
feral pigeons or my kit of domesticated birds flying just above
the hawk.
Pigeons know and trust their ability to climb a lot faster than
hawks. However, they do take a huge chance, sometimes almost
mocking the hawk that is only flying a few feet under them,
trying to get above them to attack. I have seen my Birmingham
Rollers even roll when there is a predator circling right under
them.
A very gutsy move, if you ask me but I guess it gives them
excitement and leads me to believe that some of them are dare
devils. On the other hand, some of them do exactly what I would
do if was attacked by a predator, run. If some rollers attempt
roll under life-threatening situations whether that is in the
presence of predator or risky deep rolls on low altitudes,
perhaps rolling can be an addictive behavior.
#Post#: 8894--------------------------------------------------
Re: Can rolling be an addictive behavior?
By: Tony Chavarria Date: September 13, 2011, 11:48 am
---------------------------------------------------------
There...fixed ;D
Interesting article. Will read in more detail later and comment.
Thanks for posting it!
#Post#: 9495--------------------------------------------------
Re: Can rolling be an addictive behavior?
By: buttertup Date: October 14, 2011, 6:22 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
What a great article. My birds fly everyday, as they are not
officially cooped up, and it appears that they love to roll, and
I do not feed them up or down either way. I also noticed the
birds crossing one another at times, as if inciting rolls from
each other. A hawk has been flying over for the last two days
and the birds chose not to fly, I don't know how they knew, but
it seems to me they did. I will feel sad when I have to pen them
up permanantly, but this time is giving me a look into the birds
natural behavior and schedules. Whether it helps me or not later
on, who knows lol.
*****************************************************