A Post For The Birds...!

Part of me thinks this idea is great, while another part of me thinks that we are cheating by training birds to do what we don't want to. It's great that they are trained to pick up small pieces of trash and such, but I'd be willing to bet that if they didn't get their treat...no trash would be picked up.

Rooks In The Workplace

Photo credit: nottsexminer

A theme park in France has put rooks to work by teaching the birds to collect and deposit trash.

Rooks, as well as other members of the Corvidae family, have frequently been hailed as some of the smartest animals on the planet. The people at Puy du Fou theme park in Les Epesses found a practical and useful application for that intelligence. The corvids have been trained to pick up cigarette butts and other small pieces of garbage. Afterward, they deliver their cargo to specially designed bins which dispense nuggets of bird food as reward for their diligent work.

Six feathery cleaners were deployed during the successful trial run, and more have been put to work this week. It remains to be seen if the technique catches on in other places.

Like I said, I think the idea is a good one. At least now instead of picking up small pieces of trash, all they need is someone to wash away the bird poop from the area.

Coffee out on the patio this morning, where it is supposed to be a tad cooler.