Don't underestimate the abilities of pigeons
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (370500)
Rockingham, Australia
December 17, 2025 11:11pm CST
Vince called me into the office the other day to watch a clip someone had forwarded to him.
Sixteen ‘volunteers’ were chosen to undertake a two-week course identifying benign from malignant cancer cells from photographs. Normally such a short course would not be countenanced but, at the end of the time, the average individual diagnostic accuracy reached an impressive 85%. This rose to 99% when the most common answer among all groups was used. This was akin to the accuracy of a pathologist.
This is all good news surely but what is even more incredible is that the so-called volunteers were pigeons. They were rewarded for correct answers and before long they were correctly identifying photos of malignant cells. One pigeon was removed from the study as he was pecking at photos in a very random manner but the rest were spot-on. I think that is very cool.
The photo is mine. And here's a link to the article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/using-pigeons-to-diagnose-cancer/
15 people like this
16 responses
@DaddyEvil (166710)
• United States
18 Dec
I've read about dogs and rats that could also smell human breath, sweat and urine samples and diagnose cancer in humans, too. Scientists are trying to identify what the volatiles are in the different breath, sweat and urine so they can make a machine that can identify those same volatiles.
3 people like this
@JudyEv (370500)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Dec
@DaddyEvil Dogs will also wake parents if a child has a low sugar episode during the night. Pretty amazing.
1 person likes this
@sathviksouvik (22252)
•
19 Dec
the information about the pigeons are novel. I never knew it
1 person likes this
@Melanie_Marie (2428)
• St. Clair, Michigan
18 Dec
Smart birds. Judy, that is some pic you took. He has such beautiful colors.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (370500)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Dec
The plumage is very lovely. Kingfishers sometimes have similar plumage too.
@GardenGerty (167528)
• United States
19 Dec
All the more reason for us to respect all creatures.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (370500)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Dec
I wonder what they'll be able to teach animals next.
@snowy22315 (202203)
• United States
18 Dec
Sounds like an odd study...I prefer not to leave my diagnosis to a pigeon.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (17138)
• China
18 Dec
What an amazing thing ! We should have a completely new appraisal of pigeons.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (93635)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
18 Dec
Very interesting and not surprised by pigeons ability they are amazing birds,
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (212510)
• United States
18 Dec
That's amazing. I wouldn't have thought that to be possible.
