Seeing The Birds left us with two things: An admiration for Tippi Hedren and an enduring fear of, obviously, birds. While the phobia is primarily concentrated on seagulls, we wouldn't be lying if we said we step lightly around pigeons, a tough feat to do in a city where they're more common than Starbucks. If you're as scared as us, you might want to stop reading. On Sunday, French researchers revealed a study that showed feral pigeons were able to tell the difference between two humans of the same gender, age, and skin color. In experiments conducted in Paris, the researchers sent two subjects (wearing different colored clothes) to a park with bird food. One was nice, the other mean. Here come the chills—the pigeons didn't forget that. According to the paper, "The birds have developed abilities to discriminate between humans in particular. This specialized ability may have come about over the long period of association with humans, from early domestication to many years of living in cities." Washington Square Park, we'll miss you. (Gothamist)
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