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Stand and be counted. Is this evidence of pigeon numeracy?[/caption]
What looks like aimless movement to you and I may look to a trained "pigeologist," like this group of six pigeons is getting themselves into a so-called "L.E.D. formation."
According to the theory of Fowl Numbers, once in position these pigeons will then be able to express any number between zero and nine.
We may be seeing a small practice run for a later, much larger, "flock array calculation" where as many as 72 pigeons can combine to represent numbers in the billions.
The vast majority of researchers are at a loss to explain any appearance of numeracy in pigeons: why they may have it, and more importantly, what use they could possibly put it to.
As it is, without thumbs they have no way to write the numbers down.
There are some arguments to the effect that pigeons are just trying to "keep their beaks in" while they wait for evolution to catch up.
However, a truly small fraction believe pigeons have in fact already evolved powerful computational systems paralleling human binary computers.
The authors of a short treatise entitled Unexpected latency of Avian Droppings argue that along with evidence of location arithmetic, large flocks of pigeons may be using head bobbing to implement Boolean functions -- and thus logic gates -- to allow them to perform sophisticated binary operations.
Again, the authors of the theory are at a loss to say what pigeons may be doing with such calculating power, but they have no doubt how the dirty birds are outputting the results. Click the image to enlarge it.
Stand and be counted. Is this evidence of pigeon numeracy?[/caption]What looks like aimless movement to you and I may look to a trained "pigeologist," like this group of six pigeons is getting themselves into a so-called "L.E.D. formation."
According to the theory of Fowl Numbers, once in position these pigeons will then be able to express any number between zero and nine.
We may be seeing a small practice run for a later, much larger, "flock array calculation" where as many as 72 pigeons can combine to represent numbers in the billions.
The vast majority of researchers are at a loss to explain any appearance of numeracy in pigeons: why they may have it, and more importantly, what use they could possibly put it to.
As it is, without thumbs they have no way to write the numbers down.
There are some arguments to the effect that pigeons are just trying to "keep their beaks in" while they wait for evolution to catch up.
Flying a bit high for the course?
However, a truly small fraction believe pigeons have in fact already evolved powerful computational systems paralleling human binary computers.
The authors of a short treatise entitled Unexpected latency of Avian Droppings argue that along with evidence of location arithmetic, large flocks of pigeons may be using head bobbing to implement Boolean functions -- and thus logic gates -- to allow them to perform sophisticated binary operations.
Again, the authors of the theory are at a loss to say what pigeons may be doing with such calculating power, but they have no doubt how the dirty birds are outputting the results. Click the image to enlarge it.
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