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Feral pigeons and the London Pigeon String Foot and Rescue group

Feral pigeons were made by humans. Now we detest them. How did things go so wrong?

There are subtle variations in the ancestry of populations from one region to another, depending on the specific breeds traditionally kept in that part of the world – but at some point, the family tree of the vast majority of feral pigeons would lead back to birds bred by humans. Pigeons have complex inner lives and experiments have revealed that they are even able to get their heads around concepts such as space and time – a surprising feat given that they don't have a cerebral cortex, the wrinkly outermost layer of the brain that humans use to grasp such abstract ideas. In Victorian Britain, the creatures again gained prominence, and pigeon clubs sprung up across the country – places where proud hobbyists could exhibit strange,"fancy" breeds, such as the English short-faced tumbler, with its squashed face and look of constant surprise.

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