Silhouette
Gold Member
- Jul 15, 2013
- 25,815
- 1,938
- 265
So this is very cool. And very easy to train birds to do.
French Theme Park Asks: Crows Can Pick Up Trash, Why Can't You?
Right now the birds are under personal supervision of a trainer. But I could envision a "graduation" program where they are eventually liberated from smaller controlled training-parks to a community at large. We could have stations that are fully automated, that the birds are trained to recognize (easily done from the air and with their keen eyesight). The bird flies to a trash receptacle (maybe on a rooftop or other location where humans can't tamper/interfere), deposits trash into a hole. A machine or laser recognizes the deposit and instantly dispenses a small food reward.
Because ravens and crows are so very smart, they could be trained to only focus on roadways, being given no reinforcing reward for picking up trash in what looks like a home with a yard. Otherwise if you set your keys or a pack of smokes on your porch railing, an avid corvid might see that as a meal ticket.
I was driving along the highway yesterday and noticing that the old "keep your highway clean" groups have been slacking seriously. The place for miles was a mess, or at least getting to be. Maybe just train them to patrol highway margins where the trash piles up?
I'm always happy when animals and humans can work together in harmony.
French Theme Park Asks: Crows Can Pick Up Trash, Why Can't You?
This week, the Puy du Fou theme park in western France put some new employees in the field: six trained rooks, members of the crow family, picking up small pieces of paper and cigarette butts in exchange for food.
Right now the birds are under personal supervision of a trainer. But I could envision a "graduation" program where they are eventually liberated from smaller controlled training-parks to a community at large. We could have stations that are fully automated, that the birds are trained to recognize (easily done from the air and with their keen eyesight). The bird flies to a trash receptacle (maybe on a rooftop or other location where humans can't tamper/interfere), deposits trash into a hole. A machine or laser recognizes the deposit and instantly dispenses a small food reward.
Because ravens and crows are so very smart, they could be trained to only focus on roadways, being given no reinforcing reward for picking up trash in what looks like a home with a yard. Otherwise if you set your keys or a pack of smokes on your porch railing, an avid corvid might see that as a meal ticket.
I was driving along the highway yesterday and noticing that the old "keep your highway clean" groups have been slacking seriously. The place for miles was a mess, or at least getting to be. Maybe just train them to patrol highway margins where the trash piles up?
I'm always happy when animals and humans can work together in harmony.