Bird's Eye: The Pigeon Art Fanciers

From the files of Instant Noodles, RTI's weekly wrap of the stranger news from the Asia-Pacific region...

Pigeons like these pictures: Toulouse-Lautrec and Jackson Pollock.

Japan: Researchers at Tokyo's Keio University say this week that pigeons have "advanced perceptive abilities" and can distinguish between good and bad paintings in the same way that humans do, according to AFP.

This research comes to us courtesy of the same team that previously established that pigeons can tell a Monet from a Picasso (that is to say, they can tell a blurry face from a blocky face.)

For this experiment the researchers took paintings by elementary school children which were then sorted into "good" and "bad" by a control group of teachers and other adults (presumably not including the children's parents). Over the course of a month, the pigeons were rewarded for pecking at the good pictures, to the point where they could judge paintings they had not seen before on their artistic merit.

This represents a broadening of artistic horizons for the humble pigeon. In the past their artistic tastes have been expressed largely via the targeting of statues and sculptures. Now they are ready to run their beady eye over some of the world's great masterpieces. Let us now join two pigeons as they enjoy a stroll around their favourite art museum -- the Coo-ggenheim!

(harp music dissolve)

Pigeon 1: Ah, I do so adore the work of Toulouse-Lautrec.

Pigeon 2: As do I, the Bohemian nightlife of fin-de-siecle Paris...

Pigeon 1: You really feel like you could be walking around those same filthy Montmartre streets.

Pigeon 2: Strutting around people's ankles...

Pigeon 1: Yes, and pecking up the food they drop.

Pigeon 2: So vivid.

Pigeon 1: Marvelous.

Pigeon 2: This, now! -- this is genius!

Pigeon 1: Yes indeed. Jackson Pollock.

Pigeon 2: A master.

Pigeon 1: Absolutely. So rare to find a human who appreciates the beauty of the perfect splat.

Pigeon 2: Very rare. I especially like the thickness of the plops.

Pigeon 1: Oh, I adore them all -- the thick ones, the stringy ones, the dribbly ones...

Pigeon 2: Seemingly random yet brilliantly orchestrated.

Pigeon 1: And to think he couldn't even fly!

Pigeon 2: Yes, that's the amazing thing.

Pigeon 1: For a land-based mammal to have such an eye for the trajectory, the speed of approach...

Pigeon 2: An instinctive feel for vector.

Pigeon 1: For vector, as you say. Truly sublime.

Pigeon 2: And the colours as well!

Pigeon 1: Oh yes -- I mean, to produce such diversity of colour... I can only imagine what he had to eat!

Pigeon 2: Yes, I'm not surprised he died so young...

This post is an extract from last week's edition of Instant Noodles. Listen to this week's show online now at http://english.rti.org.tw (Thursday).