Why does a pigeon nod its head when walking. Why do pigeons nod when walking? Why do pigeons move their heads when walking

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It is important for birds to see movement against the background of static objects. If their head is moving, then there is no static background = the probability of missing something deadly interesting in the process of movement is very high. Therefore, birds like a pigeon at each step leave their heads "in the old place", and then jerkily transfer them to a new one, thus minimizing the time during which they observe the blurred background.
My imha.

They have no hands, so they have to shake their heads.

Just the same muscle moves the head and leg - move the pigeon's paw - its head will twitch.
It's simple.

The neck is developed so that there is no arthrosis)

And the frost of the saddle on the street is here and shake the Schaub not to freeze))))

They do knuts ktuts ktuts

Food is pushed out of the goiter

Their eyes are fixed and they turn their heads to change the point of view.

They have a spring-loaded neck mechanism

They bend their heads so that the hooligans do not hit with a slingshot. An instinct developed by years of living in the city.

They are dancing

They like it so much

I remember that for focusing vision, like, in principle, a chicken

Always hungry and asking for food

For the same purpose for which you wave your arms - balance is maintained!

And the longest answer is: Why do pigeons nod their heads? At first, of course, the question is perplexing. To be honest, I never even paid attention to pigeons nodding. But later, thinking about it, I remembered - yes, nodding, and very much even. Why is that?

From the point of view of the Russian language, pigeons can only nod their heads. Judge for yourself - they flap their wings, they walk with their legs, and they shake their tail. Moreover, other birds, animals, and even people nod their heads, and nothing else.

Okay, this is from the point of view of the Russian language. Let's talk about biology?

Each person at least once in his life fed pigeons in parks, squares, and simply in yards. A relaxing activity that does not require any special efforts - throw bread to yourself, and throw it. You can think about your own, talk on the phone, watch the child playing, or just admire the birds.

So that's it. Very funny doves nod their heads, begging for another piece of bread. And they also nod when another pigeon, or, more often, a sparrow, tries to take this piece away. They drive away, they say, mine, do not touch, go, look for your own.

Well, and of course, one cannot fail to consider such a beautiful ritual as the courting of a dove for a dove that attracts him. How he fluffs up his feathers, how proudly he nurses around - his chest is a wheel, his eyes are burning. Not a dove, but an eagle, no less! And how charmingly his lady of heart is "embarrassed", presses her head to her shoulder, or even hides it under her wing, how slyly she glances at her gentleman with one glance. And, of course, the dove nods its head, as if encouraging its chosen one, and persuades not to be embarrassed.

So why is the dove nodding its head? So we have identified the main reasons:

And yet the question remains open: why is it that the dove is waving its head when it is hitting?

The mention of pigeons is hidden in the most ancient books; For many years this bird has 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, intelligent and trainable. Much seemed to be known about these birds, but some secrets have not yet been revealed. For example, the question of why pigeons nod their heads when walking still remains open. What is already known about this, read in this article.

Several scientific versions

There are many versions, theories and guesses, among them there are several scientifically based ones that should be considered in more detail. Birds jerk their heads during movement, and not at rest. Is it so?

The first

The structure of the bird's body allows it to move slowly and gracefully on its two legs, and not waddle like many birds. All this thanks to the ability to balance with the neck. Head nods help maintain your center of gravity.

The 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 surrounding environment, they need to constantly twist their head. To confirm this hypothesis, a number of experiments were carried out, which can be found in more detail in a separate section.

The third

This version explains the reason why pigeons shake their heads while walking as follows: monocular vision is to blame.

Human visual capabilities are called binocular because both eyes are side by side, on the same plane, in front of the head. The fields of vision of the eyes intersect, and the person receives a three-dimensional visual image as a result.

He can orient himself well 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 visual fields may not be at all (or it is catastrophically small). However, the pigeon's eye gets a wide side view, the radius of which, according to scientists, is 300 °. This means being able to see everything that happens from behind.

If you need to take a small object with monocular vision, the task becomes almost impossible.
However, if you start to make progressive, insignificant vibrations, then the space around becomes three-dimensional (it is this information that enters the brain due to the short-term coincidence of different points of view with a slight 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 have offspring and is looking for a companion.

Important! The physiological process of moving the head of a pigeon is as follows: jerk - holding, 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 its surroundings, and then the body catches up with its head.

Common myths

There are legends that pigeons got such a unique ability to move their necks from their distant ancestors - dinosaurs. It turns out that some representatives of these ancient people had such a motor reflex due to their long neck and relatively small torso.

There is a version that pigeons are insectivorous birds in the past, which evolved and preferred grass and seeds for food, and the reflexes to catch their prey still remain.

An interesting option is the imaginary ability of birds to dance. After all, this is exactly how some inhabitants explain their nods. They say that pigeons are musical and, while moving, love to sway to the beat of their own body vibrations.
When the music is turned on, the amplitude of their oscillations increases (supposedly because of the love for the melody and the desire to dance).

Did you know? Wild pigeons can reach speeds of up to 185 km / h. Such individuals can live in their natural environment for up to 5 years, but poultry can live almost 7 times longer. Facts are known when certain individuals under human care lived up to 35 years.

What experiments say

In 1978, the Canadian scientist Frost was curious, and he decided to find out experimentally the cause of the nodding of pigeons. For the experiment, the pigeon itself and the treadmill were involved, on which it was hoisted in a transparent cube so that the bird could not fly away.

During the experiment, scientists learned that first the feathered one takes a step forward, and then its head moves behind the body. This allows the bird to see everything around it. When the experimental pigeon got used to the environment and walked on the treadmill as usual, he stopped nodding his head.

Pigeons are wonderful birds that never cease to amaze people with their talents, unique abilities and friendly character.

For many people, pigeons - so familiar birds that sometimes you don't even notice their presence. However, on the Web, you can find many interesting facts about these birds, get acquainted with the original representatives of the Pigeon family and find out unusual facts about their behavior. If you are interested in the question why doves nod their heads when walking, we suggest finding the answer to it together.

Information about pigeons

Representatives of the genus of pigeons, and in particular the gray-winged individual, can be found on all continents. The genus includes 35 species. The domestication of the rock dove took place about 5-10 thousand years ago, the exact date is unknown.

Did you know? The most expensive pigeon - a representative of a sports breed with snow-white plumage - was sold at an auction in Britain for 132.5 thousand dollars.

The antiquity of the pigeon family is evidenced by images (figurines, coins, mosaics) related to Mesopotamia, and the remains of a pigeon skeleton found in ancient Egyptian burials.

Our ancestors used these birds as a totem, a sacred bird, as a messenger for delivering mail, as well as for eating. Since that time, people have worked on breeding new breeds, and today domestic pigeons have about 800 of them. They differ in plumage colors, body size and shape, and purpose.

are divided into three large groups:

• decorative (flight).

Why do pigeons nod their heads when walking

If you look closely at how the birds move on the ground, you will notice that they walk in stride, constantly shaking their heads back and forth. There are several versions of why they do this, which belong to both scientists and ordinary people who love to observe the life of birds. We propose to consider each of them.

Did you know? Rock pigeons have excellent eyesight. This ability was used by rescuers during search operations of people on the water. As a result of experiments conducted in the 1980s in the United States, birds were able to find objects of search in 93% of cases, while rescuers failed in 62%.

First version

According to some people, this habit of walking is inherent in the blue-winged due to the fact that they have a well-developed sense of rhythm and ear for music, therefore, when they move, they swing to the beat of their movements. And since the pigeons - frequent inhabitants of noisy cities, where music often sounds on the streets, with such head movements they seem to dance to the beat of the music.

You may even notice that when you turn on the music, they become more fussy and restless, more actively moving from side to side and shaking their head. With excellent hearing, pigeons can hear sounds at lower frequencies that humans cannot. This can be the noise of the wind, approaching bad weather, etc.

This version, of course, belongs to the people, but bird watchers are inclined towards other explanations.

Second version

According to the second version, which already has scientific justification, moving in this way, the birds maintain their center of gravity. Since it is rather difficult to hold such a body on two thin legs, they also connect the head to the process of maintaining the center of gravity.

If you observe other representatives of birds, it turns out that larger individuals prefer to waddle, and small - move by jumping. A person, on the other hand, uses hand movements when walking to maintain the center of gravity.

Third version

The third version is the most convincing and clearly explains why the pigeon nods its head when walking. It turns out that this is due to the special structure of the organs of vision. Thus, the bird stabilizes the image, since it cannot move its pupils.

Stabilization occurs at the moment when the bird pulls its head forward and fixes it for some time in a motionless position, and then the whole body is "pulled" to the head.

This version was confirmed by an experiment in 1976. Scientist B. Frost forced the representatives of the family of pigeons to walk on a treadmill specially built for these purposes, which was placed in a transparent plexiglass cube.

Initially, pigeons settled in the mountains, on the banks of water bodies, and with the emergence of cities, they chose roofs, technical floors, "pockets" of houses for living. The average life expectancy of birds is 3-4 years, but there are cases when pigeons lived up to 10 years. Watching birds every day, you rarely think about their habits or amazing physiological features. In particular, few people know why a pigeon nods its head when walking, and does it all the time.

Main hypotheses

Many experts have studied the issue presented, but ornithologists have not been able to come to a consensus. There are several versions of a strange physiological feature of pigeons - nodding when walking. The most relevant among them are:

• the presence of sensitive hearing;
• body structure;
• flirting.

It is scientifically proven that pigeons are sensitive to hearing. As a result, when walking, they perceive the sound from their own steps, and shaking their head sets the rhythm of the movement. The theory seems unlikely, since this physiological feature in birds persists even on a silent type of cover, for example, on grass.

Interesting fact: When a pigeon plays music, it starts looking for the sound source, shaking its head from side to side. Some birds even move to the beat of the melody. Parrots, owls, eagles behave similarly.

The anatomy of a pigeon is such that it invariably walks on two legs, which must support a substantial body weight of the bird. In order not to lose balance, in the course of evolution, pigeons have an additional opportunity to balance in space with the help of nods.