Pigeons are also famous for being good at flying. In ancient times, they sent secret messages by flying thousands of miles. Pigeons are raindrops, gray, black, crimson, white and other colors. Short feet, short mouth. Seeds of cereal plants and insects. The crops are developed, and the female pigeons can secrete "pigeon milk" to feed their young pigeons during the breeding period, which is a late bird. Spouses are basically fixed for life, laying 5 ~ 8 pairs of eggs a year. Female pigeons hatch eggs at night, while male pigeons hatch eggs during the day. The incubation period is 14 ~ 19 days. All young pigeons put their beaks down their parents' throats to get pigeon milk.
Pigeons are divided into wild pigeons and domestic pigeons. There are mainly two kinds of wild pigeons: rock-dwelling and arboreal. After long-term cultivation and screening, domestic pigeons are divided into edible pigeons, ornamental pigeons, racing pigeons, military pigeons and experimental pigeons. In 3000 BC, pigeons were recorded in the fifth generation of the Egyptian dynasty. Pigeon breeding has a long history in China. According to the pigeon nest that lives in the pottery room unearthed from the Han tomb in Lushan County, Sichuan Province, there was a folk custom of raising pigeons at the latest in 206 AD. Today, all continents in the world have their own wild pigeons and domestic pigeons. People have different statistics on the types of pigeons. According to the Japanese Encyclopedia of Animal World, there are 5 groups of pigeons, belonging to 250 species. Another Japanese book, Chronology of Everything, records that there are as many as 550 species of birds in the pigeon family. Nowadays, all kinds of domestic pigeons are evolved from many wild pigeons, each with its own characteristics.
Pigeons can fly fast and powerful because they have long wings and strong flying muscles. Pigeons usually mate for life. If one of them dies, it will take a long time for the other to accept a new spouse. Pigeons inhabit tall buildings or cliffs, and ten pigeons move in groups, flying fast and flying low. Foraging seeds and fruits on the ground or trees. Build a nest in the crevices of the cliff with hay and twigs. Their nests are generally flat and slightly concave, usually laying 2 eggs per nest.
Wild pigeons are also international animals. They are distributed in Europe, North Africa and Central Asia, and China is mostly distributed in the northern, western and central parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Their body length is about 295 ~ 360 mm; The head, neck, chest and upper back are slate gray; There are metallic green and purple flashes on the upper back and chest, and the rest of the back is light gray; There is a black horizontal spot on each wing; Tail-feather slate is gray, and its end is a broad black transverse spot. Pigeons are similar in gender. Pigeons have small beaks, mild sex and full bodies. They nod lovingly when they walk, but most of the time they strut.
Different kinds of homing pigeons cultivated by people are related to their flying ability and homing ability. The homing ability of pigeons means that when a young pigeon grows up in one place and takes it far away, it can still find its original nest. Humans have raised pigeons for more than 5,000 years, forming many varieties with different personalities. The sun theory, magnetic field theory, smell theory and so on all have their own basis. As for how pigeons rely on identifying the homing direction, there is no conclusion yet.
Dove order, pigeon family, birds, pigeons. Pigeons, commonly known as domestic pigeons and carrier pigeons, are developed from the descendants of wild pigeons. As early as tens of thousands of years ago, wild pigeons flew around in droves, nesting, inhabiting and reproducing in dangerous rocks, caves and cliffs along the coast. Pigeons have an instinctive desire to love their nests, strong homing ability and the ability to forage in the wild, which has long been recognized by human beings, so people have never consciously raised pigeons as poultry. Pigeons have a special digestive system, which makes them like to eat stones. Pigeons without teeth swallow food directly into the feeding passage and store it in a muscular stomach. Pigeon's muscular stomach is very tough, its stomach wall is muscular, there is a layer of horny membrane on the inner wall, and stones are stored in the stomach cavity. After food enters the muscular stomach, the muscles of the stomach wall contract, and the horny membrane, stones and food rub against each other, grinding the food. So stones are equivalent to pigeons' teeth, so they will continue to swallow stones to digest food. But they can only digest 60% of the food, and the rest is excreted with feces.
The military significance of pigeons has long been recognized by human beings, so homing pigeons serving in the army and in the battlefield appeared. As a military assistant of mankind, it was recorded in ancient Rome as early as 2000 years ago. Julius Caesar used pigeons to send military messages many times in the war of conquering Gaul. In 43 BC, when Hessius and brutus besieged Modena, they also used pigeons as communication tools. Since then, military pigeons have played an important role in all previous wars. Those pigeons with outstanding military achievements are called "pigeon heroes". At present, military pigeons have been widely used. In addition to transmitting information for communication, military pigeons are also used to detect enemy situations, help radar on duty and collect data. In addition, military pigeons are also used to search for victims at sea.
The first mention of pigeons in the Old Testament is the story of Noah and the dove of peace. Later in the New Testament, when Jesus was baptized, he mentioned pigeons again. At this time, pigeons are regarded as the holy spirit handed down from generation to generation. In the Bible, Noah's Ark stands on the edge of Mount Ararat. After the flood, Noah released another pigeon to see if the water on the ground had receded. Because there was water everywhere, the pigeons couldn't find a place to stay, so they had to fly back to the ark. Seven days later, Noah released the pigeon again. At dusk, the pigeon came back with an olive in its mouth, Ye Fei, apparently pecked from a tree. Noah judged from this that the water on the ground had receded. Later generations used pigeons and olive branches to symbolize peace. These stories recorded in the early Bible undoubtedly paved the way for pigeons to appear in modern cities. For centuries, the image of pigeons has changed from gods to demons, from heroes to food in people's mouths.
Pigeons can be recognized as a symbol of world peace, thanks to Picasso. 1940, fascist bandits headed by Hitler captured the French capital Paris. Picasso was sitting in the studio dejectedly when someone knocked at the door. It was Mish, an old neighbor, who called. He told Picasso a tragic story, holding a bloody pigeon in his hand. It turns out that the old man's grandson keeps a flock of pigeons. He usually attracts pigeons and often ties white cloth strips on bamboo poles as a signal. When he learned that his father had died in the battle to defend Paris, his young heart was ignited by hatred and anger. He thought that white stripes meant surrendering to the enemy, so he used red stripes to attract pigeons. The conspicuous red cloth strip was discovered by Dekou, and the miserable fascist gangsters pushed him downstairs and killed him, and also killed all the pigeons with bayonets.
After the old man finished speaking, Picasso was asked to draw a pigeon in memory of his grandson who was killed by fascism. Then Picasso painted a flying pigeon with grief and indignation, and the prototype of "dove of peace" was born. 1950165438+10. In order to commemorate the World Peace Conference held in Warsaw, the famous Chilean poet Nie Luda called a flying pigeon holding an olive branch in Picasso's meeting a "dove of peace", thus, the pigeon was officially recognized as a symbol of peace.
In modern times, pigeons are also war heroes and have played a great role in wars many times. During World War I and World War II, pigeons sent messages through enemy blockade lines, saving thousands of lives. People carry pigeons on the boat. When they were attacked by a German submarine, they released pigeons to tell the specific location of the sunken ship so that the survivors might be rescued. During World War I, a pigeon once carried important information through the position of fierce fighting. It was hit in the chest and legs during the flight, and even almost lost its leg with information. It still kept flying for about 25 minutes with amazing perseverance, bringing information to the French military camp and saving the lives of many French soldiers. This pigeon, an absolute war hero, was awarded the War Cross by the French government.
Another heroic pigeon appeared during World War II. At that time, there were/kloc-0.000 British troops stationed in a small town in Italy, but the Germans planned to bomb this unit. At that time, communication equipment could not be used, and the only hope was pinned on homing pigeons. The pigeon successfully sent the news 20 miles away five minutes before the British army was bombed, thus sounding the alarm in time. Later, the pigeon was awarded the Deakin Medal, the highest military medal in the animal world.
Pigeons are also monogamous birds. Pigeons selectively choose their spouses after sexual maturity. Once they are successfully paired, they are single-minded and inseparable. If the number of males and females in the same flock is different, there may be two male or two female same-sex spouses. After pigeons are paired, both sexes will participate in activities such as nesting, hatching and feeding young pigeons. Pigeons are reluctant to pair up again for a long time after their widowhood. In production, in order to improve the quality of pigeon breeds, cultivate excellent breeds and avoid breed degradation caused by inbreeding, artificial selection can be carried out in a planned way. If the male and female pigeons are paired freely, it will take a lot of time and energy to disassemble and re-pair. Therefore, in breeding, it is necessary to master this characteristic of pigeons and make an artificial selection plan as soon as possible to prevent free pairing. In addition, adult pigeons may have promiscuous mating in estrus season after losing their spouses. In order not to disturb the sheep and keep quiet, pigeons in estrus should be paired or isolated in time.
Generally, pigeons will start to look for nesting materials and build nests after mating. Some male pigeons will recover the nest to lay eggs when the female pigeon leaves the nest. After the female pigeon lays eggs, the female pigeon and the male pigeon take turns to hatch eggs. Generally, every morning, the male pigeons hatch in the nest, and in the afternoon, the female pigeons hatch in the nest until the next morning. In this way, the male and female pigeons alternate day after day until the young pigeons hatch. After the young pigeons hatch, the male and female parents secrete pigeon milk to feed the young pigeons. The incubation period in pigeon eggs is generally around 17 days. If the young pigeons haven't hatched in about 17 days, parents will find a new nest to lay eggs and then hatch.
Wild pigeons can breed up to eight times a year and give birth to two babies at a time. The frequency of pigeon breeding depends on the adequacy of food. It takes about 18 ~ 19 days for pigeons to hatch and break their shells. Parents will feed these little guys with a special pigeon milk. The newly hatched pigeons will double their weight in one day, but their eyes will not open until four days later. Pigeons can leave their nests when they are two months old.
The debate about why pigeons can return to their habitat from far away has never stopped, and this amazing ability of pigeons is not limited to racing pigeons or domestic pigeons. All pigeons have a second ability.
It is reasonable to say that pigeons use roads and highways to navigate, and there are also theories that pigeons navigate through the earth's magnetic field, landmarks, the sun and even infrasound waves. No matter how human beings argue, there is no denying that pigeons are indeed unique in this respect.