Our interactions with pigeons these days usually involve shooing them away from our food or sighing through their endless showers of excrement over our cars, benches, and balconies. They are seen as a dirty, diseased nuisance, pecking their way through our garbage and displaying seemingly no function in the animal kingdom at all. But no matter how much people despise these so-called “rats with wings,” we only have ourselves to blame.
Humans have largely forgotten that pigeons were actually domesticated many years ago. Ever since, pigeons have proved to be an incredibly smart and talented species. They’ve provided numerous functions for humans (even saving lives), yet after pulling them out of their homes to provide us services, humans now regard them like invasive city pests.
Indeed, there’s much to learn about the pigeon that's beyond street-level, so click through to find out why it’s the most misunderstood bird in the world.