About seven thousand years ago, according to other estimates already ten thousand years ago and at least at a time when cattle, sheep and goats were already living as livestock, the people of Mesopotamia, the territory of modern-day Iraq, succeeded in domesticating pigeons.
They valued their meat and eggs, their droppings as fertilizer, and their ability and tendency to always return to their owners.
Noah already liked that, to whom the doves reliably reported that the waters were receding, nothing stood in the way of reconciliation with God and people didn't have to become amphibians.
Threatened with extinction
How easy it was to get this
Columbidae
called family of birds that eat seeds, buds, insects, berries and other fruits, grains and legumes.
There are more than three hundred species worldwide, but only five of them live in Germany.
In its new report, the bird protection organization BirdLife Protection points out that one in eight bird species worldwide is threatened with extinction.
Depending on the location, this also applies to one of the German pigeon species, the turtle doves, but wood pigeons, stock pigeons, city pigeons and collared pigeons are not endangered species.
Exactly one hundred years ago, the predecessor organization of BirdLife Protection, the "International Committee for Bird Protection", warned of the loss of one of their more spectacular relatives, the crowned pigeon.
At the founding meeting on June 20, 1922,
With members from just four countries, the forward-thinking conservationists called on "the nations of the world to determine the status of all bird species inhabiting them and to take the necessary measures to ensure, under all circumstances, the adequate conservation status of native bird species".
The most urgent thing they felt was to curb the overexploitation of Argentina's pampas chickens, to launch a campaign against Australia's trade in live birds and to raise awareness of how great the losses of herons, birds of paradise and crowned pigeons have been since the fashion industry started selling their feathers decorate hats and other clothing.
to determine the status of all resident bird species and to take the necessary measures to ensure, under all circumstances, the adequate conservation status of the native bird species".
The most urgent thing they felt was to curb the overexploitation of Argentina's pampas chickens, to launch a campaign against Australia's trade in live birds and to raise awareness of how great the losses of herons, birds of paradise and crowned pigeons have been since the fashion industry started selling their feathers decorate hats and other clothing.
to determine the status of all resident bird species and to take the necessary measures to ensure, under all circumstances, the adequate conservation status of the native bird species".
The most urgent thing they felt was to curb the overexploitation of Argentina's pampas chickens, to launch a campaign against Australia's trade in live birds and to raise awareness of how great the losses of herons, birds of paradise and crowned pigeons have been since the fashion industry started selling their feathers decorate hats and other clothing.
Plush feathers
In the end,
Goura became cristata
not worn down by men and women addicted to cleaning.
The pigeon species, which can reach eighty centimeters the size of a turkey and is found on New Guinea and other Southeast Asian islands, lives and continues to impress with its sight.
On her head she wears her really spectacular long plush feathers.
Crown pigeons are the Zizi Jeanmaires and Liza Minellis of pigeons with their tail-wagging regal gait.
Crowned pigeons were popular pets in European pet shops when these women were still stars in the 1970s.
The follow-up costs were even more expensive than the purchase - around 700 marks were required for a copy at the time.
Keeping crowned pigeons appropriate to the species requires a room of around 20 square meters.
The German Krontauben had more space than most minors in their children's rooms.
Keeping crowned pigeons didn't catch on.