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23
In each experiment a bird was shown the picture and was taught to reply by
pecking at one of four keys.” After being rewarded with pinches of grain for
each correct answer, they all learned to identify the person and the emotion
correctly,” he said. If they made a wrong identification they were “punished” by
not being given the grain. “To make it more difficult the faces were
photographed without any special distinguishing features such as clothing or
jewellery.”
The people pictured were all about the same age; two men and two women,
one of each fair-haired, the other dark-haired. Their slightly exaggerated
expressions showed happiness with broad grins; anger with furious threatening
scowls; surprise with wide open mouths and staring eyes and disgust with
twisted lips and screwed-up eyes. After each bird had been shown an expression
on one face, it was shown another photograph and “asked” whether the new face
had the same expression. Once the birds had recognized the expressions they
never mistook them.
“The experiments show that pigeons are more intelligent than any animals
except for dogs and primates,” Professor Wasserman said. “We suspected this
since in the countryside they can tell the difference between a man with a
shotgun and a man carrying a walking stick. They showed the same amount of
intelligence as human babies who are not born with the ability to recognize the
expressions of people’s faces but have to be taught it. Charles Darwin
speculated in the last century that some birds might have this ability but it’s
amazing to have it proved.”
OUR TRIBAL PAST
The genetic “footprints” of ancient tribal ancestors have been uncovered among
the bustling populations of the world’s cities. Some of the most intriguing
evidence of this startling new finding has just come from Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Since atom bombs were dropped in 1945, their citizens and their
genes have been studied in extensive detail. Scientists have been searching for
signs that mutations triggered by the A-bomb blasts had passed on to survivors’
children. A study of tens of thousands of parents and children, involving the
investigation of several thousand genes which control the manufacture of
proteins in the body, was carried out.
Against all expectations researchers led by Professor James Neel of Michigan
University found no sign that any new mutated genes created by the blast were
passed on to offspring. But to their great surprise the researchers did find
evidence of other mutations, once laid down by the ancient tribes that had
established their cities 6,000 years ago when Nagasaki was founded by the
Jomon culture and Hiroshima by the Yayoi people. The Jomon and the Yayoi
evolved independently and carried genes that varied distinctively. Scientists
found these genes still persist among modern Japanese.
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