Feral, untrained pigeons can recognize individuals and are not fooled by a change of clothes, according to a study.
Although pigeons have shown remarkable feats of perception when given training in the lab, the new study is the first research showing similar abilities in untrained feral pigeons.
In a park in Paris city centre, pigeons were fed by two researchers, of similar build and skin color, wearing different colored lab coats.

One individual simply ignored the pigeons, allowing them to feed while the other was hostile, and chased them away.
This was followed by a second session when neither chased away the pigeons.
The experiment, which was repeated several times, showed that pigeons were able to recognize the individuals and continued to avoid the researcher who had chased them away even when they no longer did so.
Swapping lab coats during the experiments did not confuse the pigeons and they continued to shun the researcher who had been initially hostile.
Dr Dalila Bovet， a co-author of the study from the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, said: "It is very likely that the pigeons recognized the researchers by their faces."
Dr Bovet added: "This specialized ability may have come about over the long period of association with humans, from early domestication to many years of living in cities."


英国《每日邮报》7月4日报道，据一项研究发现，野生未驯养的鸽子能够识别每个人的脸，而且不会因为换了衣服就不认得了。

虽然在实验室里受过训练的鸽子可以表现出超强的感知能力，但是这项新的研究是第一次针对未经训练的野生鸽子。实验表明它们具有同样的能力。

在巴黎市中心的一个公园里，两名体型和肤色都相似的研究人员穿着不同颜色的实验室工作服去喂一群鸽子。

其中一名研究员完全不理会鸽子们过来吃食；而另一名研究院则怀着敌意将它们赶走。

接下来的第二阶段实验则是两名研究人员都不驱赶这群鸽子。

这项研究重复了几次，鸽子们始终能够认出那个赶他们走的研究人员，并避开他，尽管他后来不再如此驱赶鸽子。

在实验期间交换实验室工作服也没有使这些鸽子混淆，它们仍然会避开那个最初不太友好的实验人员。

法国巴黎西部南戴尔拉德芳斯大学从事此项研究的研究员达莉拉•博韦说："很可能这些鸽子能够认出研究人员的脸。"

博韦补充说："这种识别能力可能是由于鸽子从早期驯养到多年城市生活中与长期与人打交道的结果。"

• remarkable [ri´mɑ:kəbl] a.值得注意的；显著的 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• hostile [´hɔstail] a.敌方的，敌意的 (初中英语单词)
• confuse [kən´fju:z] vt.使混乱；混淆；慌乱 (初中英语单词)
• ability [ə´biliti] n.(办事)能力；才干 (初中英语单词)
• session [´seʃən] n.会议；会期；(开庭)期 (高中英语单词)
• repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
• perception [pə´sepʃən] n.感觉；概念；理解力 (英语四级单词)