Pigeon, any of several hundred species of birds constituting the
family Columbidae
(order Columbiformes).
Smaller forms are usually called doves,
larger forms pigeons. An exception is the
white domestic pigeon, the symbol known as the “dove
of peace.” Pigeons occur worldwide except in the
coldest regions and the most
remote islands.
About 250 species are known; two-thirds of them occur in
tropical
Southeast Asia, Australia, and the islands of the
western Pacific, but the family also has many members
in Africa and South America and a few in
temperate Eurasia and North America.
Pigeons are gentle, plump,
small-billed birds with a skin saddle
(cere) between the bill and forehead.
All pigeons strut about with a characteristic bobbing
of the head. Because of their long wings and
powerful flight muscles, they are
strong, swift fliers. Pigeons are
monogamous; i.e., they mate for life, and the
survivor accepts a new mate only slowly.
The female lays two glossy white eggs in a
flimsy nest that barely holds them. The female
generally incubates the eggs by night, the male by day. The incubation
period is 14 to 19 days, but the young are cared for in the nest for
another 12 to 18 days.
Homing pigeons
(Colomba livia) possess a group of
neurons that are used to help the birds process changes in the
direction, intensity, and polarity of magnetic fields around them. The
sensitivity of the pigeons to these physical
properties allows them to determine their directional heading and
altitude by using Earth’s magnetic field.
The identity of the physical structure within the
pigeon’s body that collects this magnetic field information and sends
it to the brain remains unknown, but some scientists
suspect that it may lie within the inner ear.