Considering how important and fundamental facial recogintion is to humans, it does not surprise me at all that other animals would have a similar ability. Oddly though, our facial recognition is only well adapted for human faces, and not animal faces. To us, one giraffe looks much like another. I've read some research in the past that monkeys or dogs could recognize faces of their own species, but it seems odd that a bird would be capable of recognizing human faces and not just those of other birds. - Dallas


Angry Birds: Crows Never Forget Your Face


Crows remember the faces of threatening humans and often react by scolding and bringing in others to mob the perceived miscreant, according to a new study published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Since the mob members also then indirectly learn about the threatening person, the findings demonstrate how just a single crow's bad experience with a particular human can spread information about this individual throughout entire crow communities.

Given that crows have impressive memories, people who ruffle the feathers of these birds could experience years of retribution.

Read the rest on Discovery News.

 

 

Pigeons Recognize Human Faces

If you shoo a pigeon, that bird is likely to remember you and know to stay out of your way the next time you cross paths, according to a new study. Researchers found that wild, untrained pigeons can recognize individual people's faces and are not fooled by a change of clothes.

Previous research in this arena had only focused on the perception abilities of pigeons that were trained in a lab environment, but the new study was conducted on untrained feral pigeons. At a park in Paris, two researchers of similar build and skin color, but wearing different-colored lab coats, fed a group of pigeons.

One researcher ignored the pigeons after feeding them, allowing them to eat the food, while the other was hostile and chased them away. This was followed by a second session when neither researcher chased away the pigeons.

Read the rest on Live Science 

Tags: animal cognition, animals, birds, crows, facial recognition, pigeons, wildlife

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