In our environment (Israel) there is "hybridization" - a mix between house pigeons and rock pigeons, the fusion that harms the "purity of the species" of the rock pigeon also causes wild reproduction and huge flocks that are a nuisance in cities
Contrary to the traditions and stories that attribute the "symbol of peace" to the pigeon, the pigeons are much more violent (pigeon to pigeon) compared to other birds, a well-known zoologist said that "If only pigeons had beaks and claws like falcons... is a witness to bloody battles to the death" therefore "the dove of peace"... is nothing more than a symbol that originated in error.
Out of the more than 300 species of pigeons that are common in the world, the rock pigeon - Columba livia is a domestication whose results are widespread all over the world in a variety of sizes, colors and varieties and is used for food, transport, "decoration" and other uses, so far everything is fine and dandy, but the problem arises when the pigeon "Civilized" "wild", feral pigeons leave their human home and breed into flocks of thousands of individuals.
In our environment (Israel) there is "hybridization" - a mix between house pigeons and rock pigeons, the fusion that harms the "purity of the species" of the rock pigeon also causes wild reproduction and huge flocks, in Eilat you can see every morning thousands of pigeons flying east to the nuclear silos that follow, after eating all day In Aqaba the bands return to Eilat, to sleep.
When flocks of Indian crows arrived in Eilat, the pigeons decreased, but the crows scare the city's residents, the crows are shot and the pigeons breed again. In all major cities in the world, pigeons are a nuisance.
Bands that "occupy" squares, raid seed banks, cause damage to agricultural crops,
Pollutants in sewage digest buildings, spread diseases, in short are a nuisance and cause damage. The most disturbing and harmful are the "urban" pigeons, in many places pigeon flocks are treated as an epidemic. And hence the derogatory nickname given to pigeons in many cities - flying rats!
I wrote above that one of the uses of pigeons is as food, there was a time when I was also involved in trapping pigeons in order to thin out their population in areas where heavy damage was caused. I divided the traps among friends who would make delicacies from them.
Later when I traveled through European cities and saw the pigeon feeders covered with birds from head to toe, I tried to get closer and I would always cause a panicked escape even when I stocked up with a little sperm were the pigeons willing to eat from my hand but only when I scattered the seeds at a distance?
The strange phenomenon did not bother me as I thought that (urban) pigeons were a nuisance that had to be neutralized anyway. But I wasn't the only one the pigeons were afraid of.
It turns out that the pigeons recognize people's personalities and know how to distinguish between those whose intentions are "pure": those who intend to feed them, and those who intend to get rid of them. A team of French researchers examined the phenomenon and published the survey results in the journal Animal Cognition. According to the researchers, the "urban pigeons" learned to get the most out of the urban environment by identifying available food sources, one of which is the "good people" who distribute food to the pigeons.
About 30 million ("wild") pigeons occupied the cities of Europe, proximity to humans gives pigeons an advantage, the minority of natural enemies - predators / raptors, availability of nesting places and availability of food all seasons of the year,
Advantages that allow the population explosion of the "flying rats".
The researchers conducted a series of experiments to test the ability of the pigeons to utilize the food resources from human sources and in the same way to identify "hostile" people. The researchers hypothesize that pigeons have a "categorical memory" to distinguish between feeders and hostiles, the ability to quickly identify feeders allows them to spend less time searching and more time eating and digesting.
The researchers tested two feeders, one was a natural and regular feeder while the other was a hostile one that drove away the pigeons. In both cases the pigeons quickly learned to distinguish between the feeders. The pigeons were wary of hostility even when the feeders changed clothes, meaning that the pigeons recognize the body and facial features of the people, an identification that allows the pigeons to quickly learn their human environment and thus reach the maximum profitability from life in the urban environment.
Researchers from research institutes in Paris say that "the research provides an initial attempt to prove how pigeons recognize and learn to discriminate between people". I will add and say that even with us the problem is getting worse and a problem for which the pigeon feeders are not the solution.
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Indeed an interesting article.
As an ecologist with a doctor's degree under your belt, the way you treat pigeons is shameful in my opinion, it does not respect a person in your position to include in an article presented on a scientific basis the abominable murder you carried out on pigeons for the pleasure of humans. I have no idea if you studied zoology or biology but as an environmentalist your solution is actually the final solution.
It's not complicated, I mentioned in passing, that the Talmud emphasizes that the "positive" response of the birds to those "hunters" who provide them with food even outside of the "hunting" time. It is not a classic process of conditioning, but a deeper facet in identifying the "narrow eye".
And maybe a personal story.
As a small child, when we first thought about Ivan Pablo's experiment, I decided to do an environmental experiment on the street cats in the neighborhood where my parents lived.
Occasionally, when I was sent to empty the trash can. I took care to take leftover food that should be delicacies for the palate of the neighborhood cats. And when I fed the cats around the bin, I played a unique whistle in their ears that I invented for the experiment.
It took exactly a week until when I would go down and "whistle" like that, all the cats in the area would run and come to me...
Only the story was later to get rid of the guests, but it no longer belongs 🙂
Eran (15)
"Instinctive Pavlovian phenomenon"?
Can you explain this puzzling combination? And how does this relate to the Talmud?
I still don't understand how the pigeons knew Dr. Rosenthal and identified him as "evil" when he first appeared there?
It is interesting to note what the Talmud brings in tractate Sota page XNUMX
R. Yehoshua ben Levi said from a source that even birds recognize the narrowness of the eye as it is said "For the net is free in the eyes of everyone who has wings" (Proverbs XNUMX:XNUMX)
The commentators of the Gemara explain that the hunters are used to scattering a lot of seeds to the birds and not even during the hunt so that they get used to that place and then when the hunters set a trap there with seeds in it the birds come and hunt.
"But the miserly "short-eyed" save the seeds. They don't do that, and anyway the birds are not attracted to the trap they have set for them, and this is what the scripture says, "because the net is free" that they scatter seeds in the net for nothing, because those with wings know the short-sighted and will not come to eat from those seeds."
According to the Talmud, there is no instinctive Pavlovian phenomenon here, but a feeling of the chicken, regarding the person standing in front of him.
From experience the dolls don't work.
I put special dolls in the shape of a black crow on my house and within a month the pigeons returned...
In fact, a device I bought on eBay for 60 dollars is doing the job in the meantime - the device transmits sounds
that rattles the ears of the pigeons and is activated by a motion sensor (similar to the motion sensors of home alarms)
What's more, I need at least 5 more such units to cover the entire area of my roof including different angles.
More professional and much more expensive devices consist of a central unit of amplifier and signal generator as well as speakers scattered on the roofs of stadiums
rate research,
I think that broadcasting the voices takes care of the places where you don't want the pigeons to nest.
I have heard of a quiet solution, a large doll of an owl placed on the windowsill of a lady who suffered from a problem with pigeons and other birds nesting in the lower part of the roof in her yard, solved the problem.
That's why it seems to me that maybe you should scatter dolls of "unfriendly" in different areas of the city and the problem will partially be solved.
(Maybe Chucky dolls :-))
solution for ions.
There are quite a few ion remover products based on the transmission of sounds that remove ions.
They are widely used in stadiums in the USA.
Search the internet for pigeon repellant
Ami, my intention is that because the phenomenon is very prominent and widespread in humans.
Precisely because of this it is interesting to learn how it manifests itself in nature.
Because we learn about ourselves - by observing other animals.
There is a very simple solution: a tender for trappers.
As there are snake catchers there are people
whose profession is to catch birds.
If the trapper could sell pigeons he caught to restaurants
The problem will be solved quickly.
The Indian crows are an "invasive species" in Eilat,
Add to that ancient fears of the black crows!
that symbolize evil and bad luck!
Add the fact that crows have high intelligence
(more than a few Eilats),
and…. This is what Eilat has against crows.
What do Eilat have against the Crows?!
The answer to the problem exists and is simple, the problem is every attempt at a solution
Encountered "animal lovers"... who do not know the difference between
Preserving nature and the environment and the requirement not to harm nuisance factors, carriers of diseases, harming the balance in nature and the natural environment,
See the problem of feral dog packs growing and multiplying
Since then, their destruction has been stopped!
The main unanswered question is - how do we get rid of this nuisance?
It is interesting to know that according to the Talmud, dove feeders are not kosher to testify in court
http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%99_%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A9_%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%A0%D7%94_%D7%90_%D7%96
Does anyone have a recipe for pigeon meat?
Discriminate = distinguish, not discriminate.
Thanks.
A. Interesting article
B. Mike, in humans, at least in the test of the field results, there is no doubt that the inter-sexual hostility is much greater than the intra-sexual hostility: over ten billion people are sacrificed every year for the sake of food, while very few people are sacrificed for the sake of intra-sexual wars and hatred. On the other hand, animal sacrifice is not a product of hostility but simply the use of their flesh, while between human wars there is actual hostility and hatred.
Thanks for the article.
The open question that remains is how do pigeons who have not encountered you before still label you as hostile?
I am personally very fond of the guests who visit my balcony on a regular basis, including sparrows and other winged birds.
Also, it would be nice if someone could upload to the site interesting articles that describe the concept
which holds that intrasexual hostility is greater than extrasexual hostility.
(In the sense of different races, and not between male and female of course...)