Pigeons have been used to spot cancerous tissue in mammograms.
Experts from the University of Iowa trained a group of birds to spot the difference between benign and malignant human breast tissue by rewarding them with snacks when they were correct.
At first, the birds managed just 50% accuracy, but within two weeks that had increased to between 85% and 90%.
Birds first learned to spot benign and malignant samples in full colour and at low magnification, before progressing onto medium and high magnification.
They also managed to identify small accumulations of calcium salts in the tissue known as micro calcifications.
However, pigeons will not be used to spot cancer in future: the study was carried out to find out more about how visual cues are processed from medical slides.
It could help researchers to explore the importance of colour, brightness and compression on a viewer's ability to spot cancers.
Study co-author Edward Wasserman, from the University of Iowa, said: "These results go a long way toward establishing a profound link between humans and our animal kin.
"Even distant relatives - like people and pigeons - are adept at perceiving and categorising the complex visual patterns that are presented in pathology and radiology images, surely a task for which nature has not specifically prepared us.
"Research over the past 50 years has shown that pigeons can distinguish identities and emotional expressions on human faces, letters of the alphabet, misshapen pharmaceutical capsules, and even paintings by Monet vs Picasso."
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