Brief Pigeon
History
Pigeons
have
been the fascination of mankind for
thousands of years.
Ancient
Dove Cotes *link
More
Dove and Pigeon Cotes *link
European
Cotes *link
Capadocia
Cotes *link
For centuries, pigeons have
become a valuable tool for studying inheritance and mutation in small
animals due to their prolific nature and short gestation time.
Pigeons have also
served a vital role in the military as
message carriers in world wars one and two, and several have literally
saved hundreds of lives in doing so. Due to their importance in these
wars the united states government in acted special laws that would
protect certain rights of pigeon fanciers.
For more
on pigeons in the war *link
There are references
about pigeons in the Bible, ancient writings in ancient
Egyptian hieroglyphics, Roman writings, Greek, Hebrew and a large list
of other
ancient and not so ancient cultures and peoples.
Pigeons have been
important to many cultures around the world for food,
their droppings used for fertilizer, sport, racing, and genetics and as
show
animals.
The Royal
Family of England has kept pigeons for centuries and the present
queen still has her own stud of racing homers.
The Royal Pigeon Racing
Association (RPRA) *link
Pigeons have been excellent subjects for genetic studies of inheritance
for hundreds of years.
Pigeons are certainly
not the nasty little creatures
that some people have made them out to be.
Pigeons are popular throughout the world, where they are bred, flown
and shown.
An interesting side
note, The pigeons that are seen in
the parks and cities of the U.S. are not indigenous birds.
They are escapees or decedents of escapees from local pigeon lofts. In
fact, Man exterminated one indigenous pigeon of the united states in
the 19th century, the passenger pigeon.
Gone
forever
by man's hand.
Today, with the
advent of television, video games,
computers and the like, pigeon keeping is becoming a lost art.
There are valuable lessons that today's youth can learn from keeping
pigeons, from the responsibility of taking care of small animals, to
the fascinating study of genetics.
I
would rather
see my children enjoying a wholesome
hobby that the whole family could participate in rather than have them
sitting in front of a television set playing video games.
|
