Rock Dove
Sign in to savespecies of pigeon; the wild bird from which domesticated pigeons derive
AI overview
The rock dove is a species of pigeon that lives in the wild and is the ancestor of all domesticated pigeons that humans have bred over thousands of years. It matters because understanding this species helps explain how one wild bird became the foundation for the many different types of pigeons people have raised for food, sport, and companionship.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Species
Least Concernpigeon
Species
- PhylumChordata
- ClassAves
- OrderColumbiformes
- FamilyColumbidae
via IUCN
Article
The rock dove (Columba livia), also known as the common pigeon or rock pigeon (but see also Petrophassa), is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon", although the rock dove is the wild form of the bird; the pigeons familiar to most people are the domesticated forms of the wild rock dove.
Wild rock doves are uniformly pale grey with two black bars on each wing, with few differences being seen between males and females; i.e. they are not strongly sexually dimorphic. The domestic pigeon, often, but invalidly, called "Columba livia domestica", which includes about 1,000 different breeds, is descended from this species. Escaped domestic pigeons are the origin of feral pigeons around the world. Both forms can vary widely in the colour and pattern of their plumage unlike their wild ancestor, being red, brown, checkered, uniformly coloured, or pied.