Real laboratory footage showing a pigeon solving Wolfgang Kohler's famous box-and-banana problem, which he studied with chimpanzees in the early 1900s. Dr. Robert Epstein and his colleagues used operant conditioning techniques to get pigeons to solve this problem "spontaneously" in the 1980s. A report of their research was published in the prestigious British journal Nature in 1984 ("Insight" in the pigeon, Nature, 1984, v. 308, pp. 61-62). Depending on their previous experience, pigeons could solve this problem in a human-like fashion in as little as a minute. This pigeon has learned to push boxes and to climb, and it has been rewarded with grain for pecking at a small toy banana. In this situation, the banana is out of reach and the box is not beneath it. At first the pigeon looks confused, then it begins pushing the box - sighting the toy banana as it pushes - and then stops pushing when the box is beneath the banana, then climbs and pecks. This and related studies were summarized in Dr. Epstein's 1996 book, Cognition, Creativity, & Behavior. For information about Dr. Epstein's research on creativity--and his scientifically-validated techniques for boosting creativity in HUMANS, visit http://CreativityCompetencies.com.
@jillh10 They're smart, but we as humans are smart enough to create several different languages, study about our own history and world, and judge other animals ;P
@ihateirony
If you had read each of my comments you would note that I already observed what the text said. My point was that the pigeon was able to use its training in separate areas, that is, its store of knowledge, to solve a problem it wasn't trained specifically to solve. This is very much like the way we humans solve problems.
@ihateirony Perhaps, but newer, better-designed experiments suggest pigeons are comparatively intelligent. They can recognize themselves in the mirror, something dogs, cats, even monkeys apparently can't - only "higher" primates (gorillas, us, chimps...) and a few other critters generally acknowledged to be "smart" (dolphins, elephants, pigs, crows & ravens...). Obviously, few can compare to crows/ravens as creative problem solvers - way beyond operant conditioning; many examples on YouTube.
@conuropsis This video proves that youtube is an unreliable source, but if you can link me to the papers in which those birds were creative problem solvers I'd be interested to read them. Plus, self awareness isn't exactly intelligent, a lot of animals have it. I'm pretty sure that was in 1981, rather than after 1984 that Epstein showed they've self awareness anyway, so that wasn't really newer.
"Pierre Van Dormael - Mr.Nobody OST (a pigeon) cover"
They are smart and I have 6 that come into the garden "Wood pigeons" and 2 rock doves now.
If you had read each of my comments you would note that I already observed what the text said. My point was that the pigeon was able to use its training in separate areas, that is, its store of knowledge, to solve a problem it wasn't trained specifically to solve. This is very much like the way we humans solve problems.