by Ryan Ponto | Apr 3, 2017 | Bird Netting
Homing pigeons may share the human capacity to build on the knowledge of others, improving their navigational efficiency over time, a new Oxford University study has found.
The ability to gather, pass on and improve on knowledge over generations is known as cumulative culture. Until now humans and, arguably some other primates, were the only species thought to be capable of it.
Takao Sasaki and Dora Biro, Research Associates in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, conducted a study testing whether homing pigeons can gradually improve their flight paths, over time. They removed and replaced individuals in pairs of birds that were given a specific navigational task. Ten chains of birds were released from the same site and generational succession was simulated with the continuous replacement of birds familiar with the route with inexperienced birds who had never flown the course before. The idea was that these individuals could then pass their experience of the route down to the next pair generation, and also enable the collective intelligence of the group to continuously improve the route’s efficiency.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that over time, the student does indeed become the teacher. The pairs’ homing performance improved consistently over generations – they streamlined their route to be more direct. Later generation groups eventually outperformed individuals that flew solo or in groups that never changed membership. Homing routes were also found to be more similar in consecutive generations of the same chain of pigeon pairs than across them, showing cross-generational knowledge transfer, or a “culture” of homing routes.
Takao Sasaki, co-author and Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology said: ‘At one stage scientists thought that only humans had the cognitive capacity to accumulate knowledge as a society. Our study shows that pigeons share these abilities with humans, at least to the extent that they are capable of improving on a behavioural solution progressively over time. Nonetheless, we do not claim that they achieve this through the same processes.’
When people share and pass knowledge down through generations, our culture tends to become more complex over time, There are many good examples of this from manufacturing and engineering. By contrast, when the process occurs between homing pigeons, the end result is an increase in the efficiency, (in this case navigational), but not necessarily the complexity, of the behaviour.
Takao Sasaki added: ‘Although they have different processes, our findings demonstrate that pigeons can accumulate knowledge and progressively improve their performance, satisfying the criteria for cumulative culture. Our results further suggest that cumulative culture does not require sophisticated cognitive abilities as previously thought.’
This study shows that collective intelligence, which typically focuses on one-time performance, can emerge from accumulation of knowledge over time.
Dora Biro, co-author and Associate Professor of Animal Behaviour concludes: ‘One key novelty, we think, is that the gradual improvement we see is not due to new ‘ideas’ about how to improve the route being introduced by individual birds. Instead, the necessary innovations in each generation come from a form of collective intelligence that arises through pairs of birds having to solve the problem together – in other words through ‘two heads being better than one’.’
Moving forward, the team intend to build on the study by investigating if a similar style of knowledge sharing and accumulation occurs in other multi-generational species’ social groups. Many animal groups have to solve the same problems repeatedly in the natural world, and if they use feedback from past outcomes of these tasks or events, this has the potential to influence, and potentially improve, the decisions the groups make in the future.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | Apr 2, 2017 | Bird Netting
- The ability to pass on and improve on knowledge is known as cumulative culture
- Until now only humans were thought capable of passing on such information
- Over generations pigeons streamlined their route to be more direct and faster
Homing pigeons are known for their impressive ability to navigate home over long distances.
Now a new study suggests this skill may be passed on between generations.
Researchers believe that homing pigeons share the human capacity to build on the knowledge of others, which explains why their navigational accuracy improves over time.
This is the first time that the ability to find and improve on knowledge over generations has been seen in a non-human species.
Researchers from Oxford University conducted a study testing whether homing pigeons can gradually improve their flight paths over time.
They removed and replaced individuals in pairs of birds that were given a specific navigational task.
Researchers simulated generational succession by replacing birds familiar with the route with inexperienced birds that had never flown the course before.
The idea was that experienced individuals could pass their experience of the route down to the next pair generation.
This would enable the collective intelligence of the group to continuously improve the route’s efficiency.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that over time the student does indeed become the teacher and pigeons learn from each other.
Results showed that the birds’ homing performance improved consistently over generations – they streamlined their route to be more direct, making them faster than those that worked the route out on their own.
Dr Sasaki, co-author of the study, said: ‘At one stage scientists thought that only humans had the cognitive capacity to accumulate knowledge as a society.
‘Our study shows that pigeons share these abilities with humans, at least to the extent that they are capable of improving on a behavioural solution progressively over time.
‘Nonetheless, we do not claim that they achieve this through the same processes’, he said.
Dr Dora Biro, co-author of the study, added: ‘One key novelty, we think, is that the gradual improvement we see is not due to new ‘ideas’ about how to improve the route being introduced by individual birds.
‘Instead, the necessary innovations in each generation come from a form of collective intelligence that arises through pairs of birds having to solve the problem together – in other words through “two heads being better than one.”‘
Moving forward, the team hopes to build on the study by investigating if a similar style of knowledge sharing and accumulation occurs in other multi-generational species’ social groups.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | Apr 1, 2017 | Bird Netting
JANAKPURDHAM: Over a dozen of pigeons were found dead in and around the Janaki Temple in Janakpurdham in Dhanusha district recently.
According to a social activist Nathunilal Das, the pigeons domesticated in the temple area were found dead and the cause of the death was unknown till now.
He said many of his pigeons also died in past three days.
The Dhanusha District Livestock Service Office is yet to ascertain the disease behind the deaths.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | Mar 31, 2017 | Bird Netting
LUBBOCK, Texas (KLBK) — A team of administrators and students at Texas Tech University are working together to fight the mass pigeon population on campus. They’re now working on distributing a birth control that is safe for the pigeons to eat, and that won’t allow their eggs to complete fertilization process.
“It’s used to make the eggs infertile, it breaks up the layers so the egg yolk and egg white do not connect. So the bird will keep laying eggs but the eggs will not fertilize. It does not harm the birds,” Erin Bohlander, a Ph.D. student in the Natural Resource Management Program at Texas Tech said.
Sean Childers, the Assistant Vice President of Operations at Texas Tech, heads the project and said the birth control won’t save them money immediately but they expect it to drastically in the future.
“We spend over $100,000 a year on man-hours and resources to clean up pigeon remains around campus. We wanted to take a step back and think more globally. How can we get ahead of this situation? What can we do that is non-harmful and humane and get ahead of the population,” Childers said.
The birth control is called “Ovo” and will be mixed within feeders with cracked corn. Bohlander said they anticipate having to feed all year long since Pigeon’s breed year-round.
“We’re hoping to humanely decrease the population by 90-95 percent,” Bohlander said.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | Mar 29, 2017 | Bird Netting
If anyone is concerned about the number of pigeons flocking at various locations around Crookston, it’s going to be several months before anything can be done to reduce the local population’s numbers.
That was the word from City Administrator Shannon Stassen this week, after Ward 6 Council Member Tom Vedbraaten said a local businessperson approached him with complaints about the number of pigeons perching in various spots downtown.
The City, in partnership with SunOpta, had a trapper come in last year, Stassen said, but he said the trapper only works during winter’s coldest months because the pigeons are more susceptible to being lured by bait.
“They want it as cold as it can be so they can bait them,” Stassen explained. “They won’t flock up at this time of the year; winter is the only time they can catch them.”
The last time the trapper came to town, he nabbed around 450 pigeons, he noted. Stassen said the trapper did a quick inventory of the Crookston pigeon population this past winter and didn’t think any trapping activity was warranted at the time.
“They do seem to be flocking up,” Mayor Wayne Melbye said.
Stassen said the trapper, who traps pigeons throughout the region, will be contacted in the fall for some potential winter 2017-18 trapping.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
