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Articles on Pigeons

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These migratory pied imperial-pigeons in Far North Queensland, like many of Australia’s 22 species of native pigeons and doves, play an important role in our ecosystems but may be at risk from emerging viruses in domestic pigeons. Dejan Stojanovic

Are Australia’s native pigeons sitting ducks?

Two recently emerging viruses in domestic pigeons in Australia may pose a significant threat to Australia’s 22 species of native pigeons and doves, many of which have crucial ecosystem roles.
The pigeon is still blaming humans though. Wagner Free Institute

Humans not entirely at fault for passenger pigeon extinction

Once the most numerous bird species in North America, passenger pigeons went from numbering in the billions to being extinct in less than a century. Their decline has been mostly blamed on intensive hunting…
Not stopping for directions. Alan D. Wilson

Explainer: how do homing pigeons navigate?

Pigeons have extraordinary navigational abilities. Take a pigeon from its loft and let it go somewhere it has never been before and it will, after circling in the sky for while, head home. This remarkable…
Cute, cuddly and numerically competent. timsackton

Pigeons can count, but chicks are even better

The humble pigeon has been in the scientific spotlight lately since the discovery that the much-maligned species is far smarter than previously thought. A study by psychologist Damian Scarf and colleagues…
The humble pigeon mightn’t look smart, but it’s no bird-brain. Seamoor

Are pigeons as smart as primates? You can count on it

We humans have long been interested in defining the abilities that set us apart from other species. Along with capabilities such as language, the ability to recognise and manipulate numbers (“numerical…

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