Pigeons never forget a face

Feral, untrained pigeons can recognise individuals and are not fooled by a change of clothes, according to a study.
Scientists have shown that urban pigeons that have never been caught or handled can recognise individual people, probably by using facial characteristics.
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.
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 recognise 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 recognised the researchers by their faces, since the individuals were both female and of a similar age, build and skin colour.
'Interestingly, the pigeons, without training, spontaneously used the most relevant characteristics of the individuals - probably facial traits - instead of the lab coats that covered 90 per cent of the body.'

She said the fact that the pigeons appeared to know that clothing colour was not a good way of telling humans apart suggests that the birds have developed abilities to discriminate between humans in particular.
Dr Bovet added: 'This specialised ability may have come about over the long period of association with humans, from early domestication to many years of living in cities.'
She said future work will focus on identifying whether pigeons learn that humans often change clothes and so use more stable characteristics for recognition, or if there is a genetic basis for this ability, linked to domestication or to having evolved in an urban environment.
The findings were presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow.

Crows also have an excellent memory for human faces - and can tell the difference between a friendly face and a dangerous one.
The birds - which are said to be as intelligent as chimpanzees - will remember the face of someone who poses a threat to them for at least five years.
Dr John Marzluff, of the University of Washington, said: 'Our findings add to the evolving view of large-brained, social and long-lived birds like crows being on a cognitive par with our closest relatives.'

A team of scientists from the university exposed crows in Seattle to a 'dangerous face' by wearing a mask while trapping, banding and releasing birds at five sites.

Over a five-year period after the trapping had stopped, they found that the mask received an increasingly hostile response from birds in the area – suggesting that the captured birds had been able to warn others.

Wimbledon in a flap ‘bird scarer’

This is one Hawk-eye that is never wrong.
For pigeons flying around Wimbledon, Rufus, a three-year-old bird of prey, is a feathered fiend. But for fans, organisers and players alike he helps keep the place clean and prevents distractions on court.
Keeper Wayne Davis said: 'He provides more of a deterrent really, and keeps the pigeons away from court and stops them nesting rather than eating them.
'He can do though, he'd eat half a rabbit if he could.'
Rufus is a Harris hawk, a US species, and is a firm fixture around SW19, even having his own pass showing his job title: Bird Scarer.
Mr Davis, 48, and Rufus arrive every day at 5.30am and work for four hours. The hawk flies around the massive footprint of the south-west London tennis capital, keeping more timid birds at bay.
The pair then go to other jobs: keeping pigeons off Westminster Abbey and Hampton Waterworks among others.
Rufus might terrify other birds but he attracts admiring looks from tennis fans who always ask Mr Davis to stop for a picture.
Mr Davis said: 'He is very popular. People are mesmerised by birds of prey. And in this context, people are often surprised to see Rufus.
'But he's very good. I trained him to be used to people and all the things he would encounter in his work.'
 
Mr Davis, a father of six who has helped protect Wimbledon from pigeons since 1999, said working with Rufus is sometimes tricky. The bird, which is fitted with a radio transmitter, likes a bit of independence and sometimes flies off.
He has sometimes not returned and has stayed the night at Canary Wharf and Northampton, tempted back to domesticity with a rabbit. Recently Rufus fled to a residential garden in Wimbledon.
Mr Davis tracked the bird and had to explain on the householder's doorstep why he wanted to come in and have a look round the garden.
'It can sound a bit dubious: can I come in and look round your garden because I've lost my bird? But they were relieved when they saw him.'

Smart Bird soar higher

One of mankind's oldest and most elusive dreams has been to recreate the effortless, swooping flight of a large bird.
Now scientists have invented a robot that not only perfectly mimics that flight, but could be mistaken for the real thing.
The SmartBird's revolutionary design allows it to start, fly and land autonomously.
Its wings not only beat up and down, they also twist at specific angles, providing the ultra-light model with 'excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility'.
Controlled by a radio handset, it can also simply glide through the skies if left to its own devices.

Steering is achieved when the SmartBird, which weighs just 450grams, moves its tail and turns its head from side-to-side.
Inspired by the herring seagull, scientists at technology firm Festo control the up/down flapping motion of the wings by spinning two wheels inside the robot's torso.
Similar to the wheels on a steam train, these are connected by rods that in turn provide the wings with their flapping movement.
The angle of the wings is adjusted by using 'torsional motors' that point the wings upwards on the up-stroke, making the SmartBird soar higher, and point downward on the down-stroke.

A spokesman for Festo said: 'The minimal use of materials and the extremely lightweight construction pave the way for efficiency in resource and energy consumption.'
While undeniably impressive from a technological viewpoint, it is the SmartBird's uncanny resemblance to an actual bird that astounds.
From the ground it is easily mistaken for the real thing, so realistic are its movements and the flapping of its wings.

On closer inspection, of course, it is clearly a robot.

naked treatment / naked therapy

There is something about getting a man to talk about his feelings that usually sends him running in the other direction.
But a 24-year-old psychology buff believes she has the answer - getting naked.
Sarah White has brought a brand new type of therapy to the people of New York.
By slowly peeling away the layers of her clothes during the session, she believes it will allow her to peel away the layers of her clients' subconscious.
She said: 'During the sessions I use the power of arousal to let you gain more control over your life.
'The goal is to use nakedness so you can understand yourself and your world better, so you can feel great and powerful, and so the excitement you feel during the sessions can lead to more excitement outside the sessions.'

The naked therapist's unique approach to helping people has aroused interest from dozens of people.

Unsurprisingly, most of her clients are men.
Miss White, from the Upper West Side, studied psychology as an undergraduate at university but believed there was something missing and uninspiring from the classical training - and that was an open interest in sexuality.

She told the New York Daily News: 'For men especially, who are less likely than women to go to therapy, it is more interesting, more enticing, more exciting. It's a more inspiring approach to therapy.
'I felt early on that something was missing from classical therapy, it seemed to encourage repression as opposed to encouraging people to open up.'
The 24-year-old begins the session with her clothes on, as the hour-long appointment progresses, she takes off every item of clothing until there is nothing left. The initial sessions, which cost $150, are conducted via a one-way web cam and text chat.

Once she builds a rapport with a client she moves to two-way Skype video appointments and then, in some cases, in-person consultations.
So far, she has around 30 clients which are an eclectic mix of college students with sexual issues, middle-aged men with relationship problems and even some women who enjoy a chat with a nude peer.
She said of her approach: 'Naked therapy has been very eye opening and worldly for my clients.
'The goal is to show patients I have nothing to hide, and encourage them to be more honest.
'For men in particular, seeing a naked woman can really help them focus, look deeply into themselves and speak their minds openly.
'Freud used free association. I use nakedness.'

Clients schedule appointments through her website, sarahwhitelive.com.
She conceded that naked therapy is not approved by any mental health association. And she is not a licensed therapist.
While Miss White's boyfriend supports her new business, her parents are still in the dark.
She said: 'I should probably tell them before they read it in the paper.'

Not surprisingly, professional psychologists are not sold on her idea.

Diana Kirschner, a New York-based clinical psychologist, told the Daily News: 'She's using the word therapy here, but I don't consider this therapy. I consider this interactive soft-core Internet porn.'
Any sexual interaction between patient and therapist is considered highly unethical by the American Psychoanalytic Association, the largest and oldest such organization in the nation.

Even physical contact violates its code of professional conduct. 

But there is no physical contact in naked therapy. And, as Miss White points out:  'It's not like I'm having relationships with any of my patients.'

Siberia found alien talking to him

Air traffic controllers in Siberia claim to have been buzzed by a high-speed UFO with a female sounding alien speaking to them in an unintelligible cat-like language.
The object had suddenly burst onto flight monitors over the remote Russian diamond capital of Yakutsk, and it was shown flying at a speed of slightly over 6000 mph, and rapidly changing direction.
The UFO was logged at a height of 64, 895 feet above sea level and appeared to interfere with aviation frequencies.
A YouTube footage showed an air traffic controller trying to make contact with the UFO, while a radar showed the UFO moving rapidly through the skies surrounded by planes that were travelling at a much slower pace.
"I kept hearing some female voice, as if a woman was saying mioaw-mioaw all the time," the Daily Mail quoted the air traffic controller as telling the pilot of a passing Aeroflot flight.
The air traffic control monitor automatically designated the UFO as "00000" because it did not have a flight number.
At one point the UFO is shown moving away from Yakutsk at great speed before turning and heading back towards the city.

1,000 black birds to die

Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 black birds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday that it began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. the previous night. The birds fell over a 1-mile (2-kilometer) area, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.

Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said the he birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."

The commission said that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.

Robby King, a wildlife officer for the agency, collected about 65 dead birds, which will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Wisconsin.

Rowe said that similar events have occurred elsewhere and that test results "usually were inconclusive." She said she doubted the birds were poisoned.