Questions:
Why was Darwin interested in pigeons?
A) They can adapt to new environments, like the city, very quickly.
B) Even though they were one basic species, they had a lot of variation to them.
C) They were able to reproduce very quickly which made them easy to study.
D) They were easy to catch and study.
What is so unique about pigeon’s eyes?
A) They are able to see different colors than humans.
B) They are the size of grapefruits.
C) Pigeons can use them to understand maps for navigation.
D) Pigeons can recognize birds that are related to them.
What have humans used pigeons for?
A) They were used in war to pilot bombs.
B) They were used to find wounded soldiers in battle.
C) They were used to clean up cities.
D) They were used to carry news across great distances.
Script:
Human history is intertwined with some of Earth's mightiest species , but there is one
graceful creature that rises above the rest. Only when seen it in its ideal habitat can
we truly appreciate this king among birds. Behold: the nobel pigeon.
If you think they're only good for pooping on statues, then think again. In On the
Origin of Species, Charles Darwin presented an idea that changed the world. He knew
if he was right, this idea was gonna turn science on its head, so in chapter 1, you know
what he chose as his very first example?
It wasn't the tortoises, or finches or even the giant fossil armadillos he found during his
journeys. He chose pigeons. Over giant fossil armadillos. But he had a good reason
and if you think otherwise then you've never seen FANCY pigeons. These are the birds
that got Darwin's attention because underneath all that feathery fashion is just one
species like dogs with wings instead of rats with wings.
All of that variation was tweaked from one ancient mold. The wild rock dove.
Thousands of years before they were eating old hot dog buns out of the trash these
birds were found on seaside cliffs, but pretty much as soon as cities sprung up
they moved in because to a pigeon a building is just a cliff with better architecture.
Pigeons are uniquely suited to city life, but they were only able to conquer all of Earth's
urban areas because we brought them there. Why? Because we liked feeding them to
ourselves. In fact, from Egypt to Rome to the early 20th century, the main roles of a
pigeon were dinner or something for rich people to breed into silly shapes.
Over time here and there a few of these domestic birds escaped and returned to a “wild”
life they just never left the city. But for some reason along that journey, our opinion
of pigeons went from this… to this. Watch pigeons pecking at the sidewalk and you're
not looking at the smartest birds in the tree. They can't solve puzzles like crows.
They can't talk like parrots.
A pigeon's brain is only about the size of that fingertip… but like most things
in nature there's more to the story. Most of their skull is eyeball: if they were the size
of humans, their eyes would be as big as grapefruits…
Those huge eyes have five color receptors compared to our three letting them see things
we can't imagine.
One pigeon named Linus was trained to remember nearly a thousand images.
Pigeons can peck out a Monet from a Picasso they can even judge if a child's drawing is
good or bad. Pigeons can tell correctly spelled words among misspelled words. As if
they aren't annoying enough, they can even put groups of objects in numerical order
which sounds easy because we're smart but pigeons do numbers as well as monkeys do
Pigeon vision is the bomb. Literally. During WW II, psychologist B.F. Skinner tried
to turn these birds into weapons. He trained pigeons to keep an image centered on a
tiny screen by pecking at it. He hooked this up to a navigation system and then loaded it
inside of a bomb. He wanted to create explosive missiles piloted by kamikaze pigeons.
He built several successful prototypes using money from the General Mills cereal
company… yes the people who make Cheerios, but the Army never let it get off the
ground.
Pigeon navigation goes a lot farther than bird bombs. Just like /human/ city-dwellers
pigeons are commuters, flying out in the morning to find food and coming back at night.
They're tightly bonded to their home and this instinct is so strong that we've used them
as messengers for centuries, like Flapchat instead of Snapchat.
Before Paul Reuter founded a global news service he used pigeons to deliver news.
During World War I and II, racing pigeons with names like Cher Ami and GI Joe were
given actual medals for delivering messages under fire.
How are pigeons so good at finding their way home from places they've never been?
Different experiments have found pigeons use visual maps, Earth's magnetic field
the angle of the sun, even smells to navigate. But when scientists knock each of these
senses out some birds can still find their way home. What we do know is pigeons use
a lot of senses maybe even some we don't know about yet.
Even though pigeons are everywhere, there's one thing you never seem to see: Baby
pigeons. They do exist, and… they are ugly. But it's a reminder that even a bird
that's everywhere only gives us glimpses into its life. Darwin's ideas about natural
selection were born on a voyage around the world. But you don't have to go to exotic
places to have your mind blown by evolution's awesomeness. Darwin knew that
and that's why he picked the pigeon to introduce the world to his theory. If you know
where to look, wildlife is everywhere that we are: just make sure if you look up to
admire it, you keep your mouth closed. Stay curious.
I want to thank our friends from BBC Earth for helping us make this episode, because
pigeons look awesome in slow-motion. Some of pigeons' oldest enemies have followed
them to cities: birds of prey. These scientists are studying peregrine falcons for
Planet Earth II, the sequel to the groundbreaking BBC series.
It's part of “Cities” an entire episode dedicated to urban wildlife. Of course, birds of
prey aren't pigeons' only urban predators. For Planet Earth II, the team filmed a
pigeon hunt you have to see to believe. You can find Planet Earth II on BBC One in the
UK and coming soon to BBC America. For more information, check out their website.