Why do doves nod their heads when walking? A clue in biology

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

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

Why, when walking, doves nod their heads - a question that, probably, each of us has asked ourselves at least once. But for many, along with other questions about the life of these birds, it still remains a mystery. For those who nevertheless decided to become a little closer to our feathered neighbors, this short story has been created. In particular, let's try to figure out why doves have such a funny walk.

General information about pigeons

The weight of an adult pigeon usually ranges from 200 to 650 g. Most often on the streets we see rock pigeons, which are one of the 35 existing species. This kind of birdcan 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 how to create new breeds of pigeons, more than 800 of them have been bred. Of these, about 200 are in Russia. The peculiarity of these birds is known to fly to their native nests even when they are hundreds of kilometers away from them. They can reach speeds up to 100 km/h. The ancient Greeks, Persians, Romans, Jews and Egyptians learned to transmit various news through them. In many countries, pigeon mail operated officially, it was especially actively used during the war.

Strange pigeon walk

We are so used to these feathered creatures that we either do not notice them at all, or everything in their behavior seems quite normal and understandable to us. But sometimes watching pigeons in a public garden or at a bus stop can lead us to some questions.

For example, why do doves nod their heads when they walk? 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 were created with the ability to move in this way, then there was a need for it. Nothing happens in vain in nature.

Explanations of the pigeon gait

There are many hypotheses about why pigeons nod their heads when walking. Some believe it's actually the effect of the nodis created visually, but in fact the bird does not move it, moving only its body. The reason for the peculiarity of the pigeon gait is sometimes explained by the need to maintain the balance of the body. To this end, small birds usually jump, while large ones waddle.

Someone believes that the structure of the dove, or rather the location of its eyes, is the cause of this phenomenon. The fact is that the eyes of the bird are set on the sides of the head, and therefore it has monocular vision. And precisely in order to see the whole picture in front of her at once, she makes a sharp nod when walking.

What did one experiment show?

In 1976, a scientist set up a very interesting experiment with pigeons. He placed the bird in a cube, where he installed a special treadmill so that the dove would not have the opportunity to get off it. The purpose of this experiment was to test whether the bird would nod its head in such an environment.

As it turned out, in such conditions, the birds stop nodding their heads. Watching a pigeon run on a treadmill led the scientist to the conclusion that they needed the nod to stabilize the image. In the process of running on a treadmill that moved with the pigeon, the need to stabilize the visible environment disappeared. According to this study, the most reasonable explanation for this question lies in the way pigeons see. By the way, if you blindfold a pigeon, it will also stop nodding while taking a step.

Unique Pigeon Vision

The difference between pigeon vision and human vision is that a personperceives the movement of objects, seeing 24 frames per second, and for this the pigeon needs to see as many as 75 frames. Therefore, they perceive everything that happens around them as separate pictures, which means that they notice an object approaching them at the last moment.

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

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