Pigeons are social and curious animals. They like to return to places that have food and shelter, and they live in groups to stay safe. This makes them seem like creatures of habit. But in fact, pigeons do not like to do the same thing over and over.
People often call pigeons "flying rats," but that is not fair. Pigeons are actually much smarter than that name suggests. They are good at learning about new places and making smart choices based on what they remember.
A new study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that pigeons like to keep their options open instead of settling into one habit. Scientists think this is one reason pigeons have survived for so long in almost any environment.
To test this, researchers at the University of Iowa gave pigeons a simple task: peck any five of 120 lit-up buttons on a screen to get a reward. Before the study, scientists expected the pigeons to learn one winning pattern and stick to it, following what is known as the Law of Effect.
But that is not what happened. The pigeons quickly learned that any five buttons would work. Still, they kept trying new combinations again and again, over thousands of tries. This showed researchers that pigeons — like many other animals — are not only trying to get rewards. They also seem to want to explore and learn, which helps them adapt when their world changes.
The pigeons still returned to button patterns that had worked before, but by also trying new ones, they gave themselves more chances for success. Scientists describe this kind of behavior as living "at the edge of chaos." It sounds messy, but it is actually a smart way to survive in an unpredictable world.
"There is something that keeps pigeons from acting like machines," said Ed Wasserman, the study's author and a professor at the University of Iowa. "It may be better for them to stay a little unpredictable, because the world can change at any time."
For years, people have said pigeons have a "bird brain," meaning they are not very smart. This idea likely comes from watching pigeons search for food near people without fear. But pigeons are not unafraid because they lack intelligence; they have simply lived close to humans for so long that they have learned people are usually not dangerous.
In fact, pigeons are quite intelligent. Their thinking skills are similar to those of some primates in certain tasks. Pigeons can solve problems, think in abstract ways, recognize themselves, remember things for a long time, find their way home, and tell pictures apart.
Because pigeons can notice patterns and change when those patterns stop working, they show real intelligence. This makes the "bird brain" idea not only wrong, but also unfair.