Feathered Experts: Surprisingly, pigeons have been named the world's top art critics.

Our planet is home to an incredible number of species, and some of them continue to amaze scientists. For instance, researchers have discovered that among birds there is one species that could potentially replace art critics. At least, that’s what scientists believe, as reported by IFLScience.

The study was conducted by the esteemed psychology professor at Keio University, Watanabe Shigeru. In his work, he demonstrated that pigeons can actually distinguish between paintings by Monet and Picasso. Notably, the research was so extraordinary that the team received an Ig Nobel Prize for it.

The scientist did not stop there and questioned whether pigeons could go beyond merely distinguishing different styles of painting and if they could also differentiate between "good" and "bad" artworks.

To answer this question, the researcher enlisted four pigeons, food, and a collection of children’s drawings. In total, the scientists used 15 watercolor and pastel paintings created by elementary school students that were deemed "good," alongside another 15 that were classified as "bad."

Once the researchers began training, the pigeons were shown the paintings on a computer screen and rewarded with food if they pecked at a "good" painting; if they pecked at a "bad" one, they received no reward. After an average of 22.5 sessions, all four pigeons were able to distinguish a "good" painting from a "bad" one.

It might seem that the birds were simply memorizing the paintings that represented the correct choice, but the scientists believe otherwise. Watanabe continued the experiments by first showing the pigeons images they had never seen before, and the birds successfully pecked at those from the "good" group more often than the "bad" ones. The same occurred when they were shown smaller versions of the paintings.

In the next phase, the researchers planned to determine what exactly the pigeons used in the paintings to make their decisions. Watanabe and his colleagues were unable to answer this question, but they found that the pigeons' ability to distinguish between "good" and "bad" significantly declined when the paintings were in black and white or when they were shown mosaic versions of them. This is thought to indicate that they rely on color and shape signals when making decisions.

Previously, scientists believed that artistic endeavors were unique to humans, but this new experiment demonstrates that with training, pigeons can differentiate between "good" and "bad" artworks. While this research does not pertain to advanced artistic judgments, it shows that pigeons are capable of developing a sense of beauty similar to that of humans.