To make a relationship draft the age nieces rabbits numerous WINGS. A few pigeon breeds have fuzzy legs -which hobbyists call muffs-rather than scaly ones. According to a 2016 study, the DNA of these fluffy-footed pigeons leads their hind legs to take on some forelimb characteristics, making muffed pigeon legs look distinctly wing-like; they're also big-boned. Not only do they have feathers, but the hindlimbs are somewhat big-boned, too. According to biologist Shapiro, who led the study, pigeons' fancy feathered feet are partially wings. 10. SOME PIGEONS DISTRACT FALCONS WITH WHITE RUMP FEATHERS. a life-or-death situation, a pigeon's survival could depend upon its color pattern: Research has shown that wild falcons rarely go after pigeons that have a white patch of feathers just above the tail, and when the predators do target these birds, the attacks are rarely successful. To figure out why this is, Ph.D. student Palleroni and a team tagged 5235 pigeons the vicinity of California. Then, they monitored 1485 falcon-on-pigeon attacks over a seven-year span. The researchers found that although white-rumped pigeons comprised 20 to 25 percent of the area's pigeon population, they represented less than 2 percent of all the observed pigeons that were killed by falcons; the vast majority of the victims had blue rumps. Palleroni and his team rounded up 756 white- and blue-rumped pigeons and swapped their rump feathers by clipping and pasting white feathers on blue rumps, and vice versa. The falcons had a much easier time spotting and catching the newly blue-rumped pigeons, while the pigeons that received the white feathers saw predation rates plummet. Close observation revealed that the white patches distract birds of prey. the wild, falcons dive-bomb other winged animals from above at high speeds. Some pigeons respond by rolling away midair, and on a spiraling bird, white rump feathers can be eye-catching, which means that a patch of them divert a hungry raptor's focus enough to make the carnivore miscalculate and zip right past its intended victim. 11. DODOS WERE RELATED TO TODAY'S PIGEONS. Flightless and docile, dodos once inhabited Mauritius, island near Madagascar. The species had no natural predators, but when human sailors arrived with rats, dogs, cats, and pigs, it began to die out, and before the 17th century came to a close, the dodo had vanished altogether. DNA testing has confirmed that pigeons are closely related to the dodo, and the vibrant Nicobar pigeon is its nearest genetic relative. A multi-colored bird with iridescent feathers, this near-threatened creature is found on small islands the South Pacific and off Unlike the dodo, it can fly. 12. ONE POINT, MORE THAN ONE-QUARTER OF ALL THE BIRDS LIVING THE U.S. HAVE BEEN PASSENGER PIGEONS. Wild feral rock pigeons reside all 50 states, which makes it easy to forget that they're invasive birds. Originally native to Eurasia and northern Africa, the species was introduced to North by French settlers 1606. At the time, a different kind of columbiform-this one indigenous-was already thriving there: the passenger pigeon They were also put situations wherein they'd need to stop working on one job and switch over to another. some trials, the participants had to make the change immediately. During these test runs, humans and pigeons switched between jobs at the same speed. But other trials, the test subjects were allowed to complete one assignment and then had to wait 300 milliseconds before moving on to the next job. Interestingly, these runs, the pigeons were quicker to get started on that second task after the period ended. the avian nerve cells are more densely packed, which might enable our feathered friends to process information faster than we can under the right circumstances. 14. PIGEONS PRODUCE FAKE MILK.. Only mammals produce genuine milk, but pigeons and doves feed their young with something similar-a whitish liquid filled with nutrients, fats, antioxidants, and healthy proteins called crop milk. Both male and female pigeons create the milk