Why do pigeons nod their heads when they walk? The clue in biology

How often many of us in our lives have to see pigeons, and at the same time, how little we know about them. All the known information about our Kurlychy neighbors is most often reduced to the fact that they eat seeds and various cereals (who stuffs), do not fly away for the winter and love to shit from the roofs. We have no time, and there is no need, to learn more - we think. Meanwhile, the world of even the most common animals for us can be very exciting.

Why do pigeons nod their heads when walking, a question that, perhaps, at least once each of us asked ourselves. But for many, he, along with other questions about the life of these birds, is still a mystery. For those who still decided to become a little closer to our feathered neighbors, this small story was created. In particular, let's try to understand why the pigeons have such a ridiculous gait.

General information about pigeons

The weight of an adult pigeon usually ranges from 200 to 650 g. Most often on the streets, we see blue pigeons, which are one of the 35 existing species. This kind of bird can be found in countries located on three continents of the earth: Africa, Eurasia and Australia. The life of a wild pigeon usually does not last more than 5 years. In captivity, they live 2-3 times longer, in rare cases reaching even 35 years.

Since people learned to create new breeds of pigeons, more than 800 of them have been bred. About 200 of them are in Russia. The peculiarity of these birds is to fly to their native nests even after being hundreds of kilometers away from them. They can reach speeds of up to 100 km / h. The ancient Greeks, Persians, Romans, Jews and Egyptians learned to transmit various news through them. In many countries the pigeon mail functioned officially, it was used especially actively during the war.

Strange pigeon walk

We are so used to these feathered beings that we either do not notice them at all, or everything in their behavior seems to us quite normal and explainable. But sometimes watching the pigeons in the park or at the bus stop can push us to some questions.

For example, why do pigeons nod their heads when walking? This strange gait seems very uncomfortable, it seems that it is given to them with great difficulty. But this is only at first glance. In fact, if they are created with the ability to move in this way, then this was a necessity. In nature, nothing happens in vain.

Explanations of the pigeon's gait

There are many hypotheses about why pigeons nod their heads when walking. Some believe that in fact the nod effect is created visually, but in fact the bird does not move it, moving only with its own body. The reason for the peculiarities of the pigeon gait is sometimes explained by the need to maintain the balance of the body. For this purpose, small birds usually jump, and large birds walk around.

Someone believes that the structure of the pigeon, or rather the location of his eyes is the cause of this phenomenon. The fact is that the eyes of the bird are planted on the sides of the head, and therefore it has monocular vision. And just to see the whole picture right in front of her, she makes a sharp nod when walking.

What did one experiment show?

In 1976, one scientist put a very amusing experiment with pigeons. He put the bird in a cube, where he installed a special treadmill so that the pigeon could not get off it. The purpose of this experiment was to check whether the bird would nod its head in such an environment.

As it turned out, in such conditions the birds stop doing nods. Observing the pigeon running along the treadmill, the scientist came to the conclusion that they needed a nod to stabilize the image. During the running on the treadmill, which moved along with the pigeon, the need for stabilization of the visible environment disappeared. According to this study, the explanation of this question is the most reasonable to look for in how pigeons are seen. By the way, if you blindfold the pigeon, he will also stop nodding, taking a step.

Unique pigeon's vision

The difference between the pigeon's vision and the human is that the person perceives the movements of objects, seeing 24 frames per second, and the pigeon needs to see as many as 75 frames for this. Therefore, everything that is happening around them, they perceive as separate pictures, which means that the object approaching them they notice at the last moment.

And although this vision of the dove is inferior to the human, it has obvious advantages. None of us can boast of the ability to see as far away as these birds. Just imagine, a pigeon is able to see an object at a distance of three kilometers. Having evaluated this their advantage, the US Coast Guard even used their help in search and rescue operations.

How much we still do not know about our familiar, seemingly, environment. We so often see pigeons and know so little about them. Knowing why when walking pigeons nod their heads, watching these birds will be much more interesting. Now you can try to imagine how the world looks in their eyes and become a bit closer to them. Let's notice the world around us, because it is very interesting and beautiful.