Mentions of pigeons lurk in the most ancient books; for many years this bird played a very important role in the life of people and states, being a fast and reliable way of transmitting information. She is beautiful and graceful, smart and trained. It seemed a lot was known about these birds, but some secrets have not yet been revealed. For example, the question of why pigeons nod their heads while walking still remains open. What is already known about this, read this article.
Several scientific versions
There are many versions, theories and conjectures, among them there are several scientifically based, which should be considered in more detail. Birds jerk their heads precisely during movement, and not at rest. Is it so?
First
The structure of the body of the bird allows it to move on its two paws slowly and gracefully, and not rewind, like many birds. All this thanks to the ability to balance with the neck. Nodding your head helps maintain a center of gravity.
Second
According to this theory, the reason lies in the structural features of the bird's eye. In pigeons, the pupil is motionless, and for a better view of the environment, they need to constantly turn their heads. To confirm this hypothesis, a series of experiments was carried out, which can be found in more detail in a separate section.
Third
This version explains the reason why pigeons shake their heads while walking, as follows: monocular vision is the “fault” of everything.
Human visual capabilities are called binocular, since both eyes are nearby, in the same plane, in front of the head. The fields of vision of the eyes intersect, and the person receives as a result a three-dimensional visual picture.
It can be well oriented in space, like most representatives of the animal world (for example, predators).
In pigeons, the eyes are located on the sides of the head, and the intersection of the fields of view may not be at all (or it is catastrophically small). However, the pigeon eye gets the opportunity for a wide side view, the radius of which, according to scientists, is 300 °. This means the ability to see everything that happens behind.
If you need to take a small object with monocular vision, the task becomes almost impossible.However, if you start to make translational, insignificant fluctuations, then the space around becomes three-dimensional (it is such information that enters the brain due to the short-term coincidence of different points of view with a small delay in time).
Fourth
Another version of this interesting behavior is that the pigeon shakes or shakes its head to attract females during the mating season. Such characteristic movements may indicate that the male is ready to acquire offspring and is looking for a companion.
Important! The physiological process of the pigeon’s head movement is as follows: jerk - retention, which together form a forward movement. First, the head is thrown forward, then it freezes in a certain position. It is at this moment that the bird manages to consider the environment, and then the body catches up with its head.
Common myths
There are legends that such a unique ability to move the neck went to the pigeons from their distant ancestors - dinosaurs. It turns out that some representatives of these ancient ones had such a motor reflex due to their long neck and relatively small body.
There is a version that pigeons are insectivorous birds in the past that evolved and preferred grass and seeds for food, and reflexes to catch their prey still remained.
An interesting option is the imaginary ability of birds to dance. Indeed, this is exactly what some inhabitants of their nods explain. They say that pigeons are musical and love to sway to the beat of their own body vibrations during movement.When you turn on the music, the amplitude of their vibrations increases (supposedly because of a love of melody and a desire to dance).
Did you know? Wild pigeons can reach speeds of up to 185 km / h. Such individuals can live in the natural environment for up to 5 years, but poultry can live almost 7 times longer. Facts are known when individuals under human wards survived to 35 years.
What experiments say
In 1978, Canadian scientist Frost became curious, and he decided to find out experimentally the cause of the pigeon nods. To conduct the experiment, the pigeon itself and a treadmill were used, on which it was hoisted in a transparent cube so that the bird could not fly away.
In the course of the experiment, scientists learned that at first the feathered one takes a step forward, and then his head makes a movement behind the body. This allows the bird to see everything that is around. When the experimental pigeon got used to the situation and habitually walked along the treadmill, he stopped nodding his head.
Pigeons are beautiful birds that never cease to amaze a person with their talents, unique abilities and friendly character.