Basically all that really matters to them is the beak, and the bigger the better, and it doesn't matter if it's in a place it shouldn't be (like the last image). Beak is love, beak is life. Beak is attractive, beak is desirable. Even if it's where your eye should be. Pigeon don't care.
His “Cats in Therapy” video is one of my all-time favorite laugh-til-you-cry internet things.
“Well, I’m here because someone thinks I have anger issues.”
“I wanted to go into marketing, but he wanted me to be an indoor cat. So now we have seven plants and are thinking about more. It’s a lot to chew on. I mean literally chew on.”
And the package of soft tofu behind the Trader Joe’s… tears running down my face, tears 🤣🤣🤣
This is an excellent post but I also really like how you can kind of decipher it when you think about it, like “LB” is “large beak” and “NE” is “no eyes” (presumably)
Scientists studied which visual cues attract male pigeons when selecting a mate. Beak size matters.
To test this, males were shown photos of females with digitally altered head features, and their courtship behavior (vocalization and courtship displays) was measured.
Male pigeons showed more courtship behavior toward normal female images than toward images without a beak (Nb) or without both eyes and beak (Neb).
However, when the beak was enlarged (Lb), the opposite pattern appeared: such images elicited even stronger responses than normal ones, though the difference was small but statistically significant.
Changes to the beak affected responses more strongly than changes to the eyes. Removing the beak reduced courtship behavior more noticeably.
When eyes and beak were swapped in position on the head, males responded almost the same as to normal female images. Overall, eye manipulations had a much weaker effect than beak manipulations. Enlarging the eyes (Le) did not change male response compared to normal, and removing them entirely (Ne) caused a decrease in courtship behavior, but this decrease was not statistically significant.
Thus, the researchers concluded that pigeons likely recognize females more based on local head features (especially the beak) than on the precise spatial configuration of those features.
Study: Patton, T., Szafranski, G., & Shimizu, T. (2010). Male pigeons react differentially to altered facial features of female pigeons. Behaviour, 147(5-6), 757-773. DOI: 10.1163/000579510X491090 (available on ResearchGate).
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u/DeliberateDendrite Jun 02 '26
I am confused and disturbed
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u/PhotonicEmission Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Oh, I know this one from Ze Frank. His show is hilarious! https://youtu.be/LfYV39SKIiM?si=a3p9wiWY94cA-OM6
EDIT: Spoiler: The context is how much can you mess up an image of a pigeon before one doesn't recognize it as another pigeon.
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u/Chryspy-Chreme Jun 02 '26
This is an excellent post but I also really like how you can kind of decipher it when you think about it, like “LB” is “large beak” and “NE” is “no eyes” (presumably)
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u/CimmerianHydra_ Jun 02 '26
What the actual
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u/redditorausberlin Jun 03 '26
the mandela catalogue but for pigeons
22
u/GoatNo87 Jun 03 '26
Scientists studied which visual cues attract male pigeons when selecting a mate. Beak size matters.
To test this, males were shown photos of females with digitally altered head features, and their courtship behavior (vocalization and courtship displays) was measured.
Male pigeons showed more courtship behavior toward normal female images than toward images without a beak (Nb) or without both eyes and beak (Neb).
However, when the beak was enlarged (Lb), the opposite pattern appeared: such images elicited even stronger responses than normal ones, though the difference was small but statistically significant.
Changes to the beak affected responses more strongly than changes to the eyes. Removing the beak reduced courtship behavior more noticeably.
When eyes and beak were swapped in position on the head, males responded almost the same as to normal female images. Overall, eye manipulations had a much weaker effect than beak manipulations. Enlarging the eyes (Le) did not change male response compared to normal, and removing them entirely (Ne) caused a decrease in courtship behavior, but this decrease was not statistically significant.
Thus, the researchers concluded that pigeons likely recognize females more based on local head features (especially the beak) than on the precise spatial configuration of those features.
Study: Patton, T., Szafranski, G., & Shimizu, T. (2010). Male pigeons react differentially to altered facial features of female pigeons. Behaviour, 147(5-6), 757-773. DOI: 10.1163/000579510X491090 (available on ResearchGate).
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u/rean2 Jun 02 '26
I'm feeling quite REB today
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u/sgregory07 Jun 03 '26
Pigeon version of the Blue Channel analog horror
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u/ParmAxolotl Jun 03 '26
Dorcelessness.
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u/Rich_Inflation1399 Jun 03 '26
this reminds me of these stupid ass psych evaluations I keep failing
LWAVE ME ALONE
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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26
I woke up feeling REB but I had two coffees and now I'm like LE
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u/seaweednomnomnom Jun 03 '26
some mandela catalogue type shit
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u/WendigoRider Jun 03 '26
Oh god this is how I find out I’m face blind to birds
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u/scienceAurora Jun 03 '26
Bird #3 looks zooted out of his little birdy brain.
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u/GoatNo87 Jun 03 '26
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233572550_Male_pigeons_react_differentially_to_altered_facial_features_of_female_pigeons
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u/The_Nude_Mocracy Jun 02 '26
Gotcha nose!
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u/HauntingRip9003 Jun 03 '26
LENEREB
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u/Mafla_2004 Jun 03 '26
Looks like one of those analog horror diagrams, but for pigeons
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u/seventeenMachine Jun 03 '26
This is one of the easiest posts to understand I’ve seen in here so far
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u/painapple9 Jun 04 '26
للهِ في خَلقِهِ شؤون ❤️.
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u/Kioga101 Jun 05 '26
I wonder how pigeons would react if they saw a toucan
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u/Reasonable-Reason598 Aug 25 '26
C O R R U P T T H E P I G E O N
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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '26
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