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Pigeons live ‘at the edge of chaos,’ researchers confirm (www.scientificamerican.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by dantheclamman@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 5 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

with no selection pressure, they can become "Stupider: since people drop refuse and scraps for them to feed off of, plus next to no threats from birds of prey in cities.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Let me introduce you to the peregrine falcon

You'll notice their range includes essentially everywhere on earth, though they really thrive in cities.

Due to their greater abundance in cities than most other birds, feral pigeons support many peregrine populations as a staple food source, especially in urban settings.

The peregrine is a highly successful example of urban wildlife in much of its range, taking advantage of tall buildings as nest sites, and an abundance of prey such as pigeons and ducks.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

DDT really did a number on urban avian predators; it gets concentrated up the food chain and then the eggs of birds become too fragile.

I haven't checked in for a few years, but I think New York City was making efforts to reintroduce them.

And it's funny to me to have an environmental initiative largely motivated by "something needs to be killing all these fucking pigeons."

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 2 weeks ago

they mostly remediated that at least for wild birds eggs.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

partially some red tailed hawks have made cities thier homes.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Oh yeah, I see the red tailed hawks all the time, and I'm not far from the city. We even have some bald eagles these days. We don't see them often, but there are some.

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Pigeons are domesticated animals that humans abandoned. Of course they’re dependent on human trash - just like stray dogs and cats are.

[–] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

There is still plenty of selection pressure. However, there has been even more artificial selection. Darwin was actually fascinated by domestic pigeons and studied them intensively https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3288640/

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 points 2 weeks ago

Even seagulls eat pidgeons