For many people, pigeons - so familiar birds that sometimes you do not even notice their presence. However, on the web you can find a lot of interesting facts about these birds, get acquainted with the original representatives of the Golubin family and learn unusual facts about their behavior. If you are interested in the question of why the pigeons nod their heads while walking, we suggest finding an answer to it together.
Information about pigeons
Representatives of the genus pigeons, and in particular the blue-winged individuals, can be found on all continents. The genus includes 35 species. The domestication of the rock pigeon happened approximately 5-10 thousand years ago, the exact date is unknown.
Did you know? The most expensive pigeon - a representative of a sports breed with snow-white plumage - was sold at auction in Britain for 132.5 thousand dollars.
Images (figures, coins, mosaic) relating to Mesopotamia, and found remains of a pigeon skeleton in ancient Egyptian burials testify to the antiquity of the pigeon family.
Our ancestors used these birds as a totem, a sacred bird, as a messenger for delivering mail, as well as for eating. Since that time, man has been working on breeding new breeds, and today domestic pigeons have about 800 of them. They differ in feather colors, size and shape of the body, and purpose.
All breeds are divided into three large groups:
- meat;
- sports;
- decorative (flight).
Why do pigeons nod their heads when walking
If you look at how the birds move on the ground, you can see that they walk in steps, constantly shaking their heads forward and back. There are several versions of why they do it, which belong to both scientists and simple philistines who love to observe the life of birds. We offer to consider each of them.
Did you know? Gray pigeons have excellent eyesight. This ability was used by rescuers during search operations of people on the water. As a result of experiments conducted in the 1980s in the United States, birds managed to find objects of search in 93% of cases, while rescuers in 62% failed.
First version
According to some people, this habit of walking is peculiar to the blue-wing due to the fact that they have a well-developed sense of rhythm and musical ear, so when they move, they swing to the beat of their movements. And since pigeons - Frequent inhabitants of noisy cities, where music is often heard on the streets, with such head movements they dance to the beat of the music.
You may even notice that when you turn on the music, they become more fussy and restless, moving more actively from side to side and shaking their heads. Possessing excellent hearing, pigeons can hear sounds at lower frequencies that a person is not able to hear. This may be wind noise, approaching weather, etc.
This version, of course, belongs to the people, but the ornithologists are inclined to other explanations.
Find out how the pigeon post used to work, which pigeons are the strangest, how small pigeons live in the city.
Second version
According to the second version, which already has scientific justification, moving in this way, the birds retain the center of gravity. Since it is rather difficult to hold such a body on two thin legs, they also connect the head to the process of maintaining the center of gravity.
If you watch other representatives of birds, then it turns out that larger individuals prefer to waddle, and smaller ones - move by jumping. Man, to maintain the center of gravity, uses hand movements when walking.
Third version
The third version is the most convincing and clearly explains why the pigeon nods his head when walking. It turns out that this is due to the special structure of the organs of vision. Thus, the bird stabilizes the image, since it cannot move its pupils.
Stabilization occurs at a time when the bird pulls its head forward and fixes it for a while in a fixed position, and then the whole body is “pulled” to the head.
Important! When keeping pigeons should pay attention that wild birds are more whimsical in terms of living conditions and feed. They will spend more material and physical resources.
This version was confirmed by experiment in 1976. Scientist B. Frost forced members of the pigeon family to walk on a treadmill specifically designed for this purpose, which was placed in a transparent Plexiglas cube.
At that moment, when the speed of the walkway was equal to the speed of the bird’s walking, it stopped moving its head. At this time, her torso and head were stationary relative to the surrounding objects.
Fourth version
Another reason birds wave their heads is - attraction of individuals of the opposite sex in the mating season. This version is also expressed by people, and it has the right to life and discussion.
Important! When keeping pigeons at home, great attention should be paid to vaccination. This will protect them from many common diseases.
You can watch more interesting information about the blue-winged animals and their movements on the video.
Thus, there are several explanations for swinging pigeons with their heads while walking. The most reliable of them - the special structure of the organs of vision of birds and the functioning of the brain. Thanks to the jerk and holding the head, the feathered manages to maintain visual focus, distinguish objects and notice moving objects.
