All our pigeons here in the states went extinct, and not that long ago.
Anyone else catch the article "The Mammoth Cometh" in last Sunday's magazine section? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazi...ometh.html It describes the very real steps being taken right now to revive extinct species. It is all quite controversial but guess which animal is up first for revival? Yep, our very own passenger pigeon. They were bigger than the rock pigeon we all love to hate now. If we get them back in any sizable numbers perhaps they'll keep down the rock pigeon numbers.
Try this out for a comparison in numbers between the two pigeon species:
"In 1860, a naturalist observed a single flock that he estimated to contain 3,717,120,000 pigeons. By comparison, there are currently 260 million rock pigeons in existence. A single passenger-pigeon nesting ground once occupied an area as large as 850 square miles, or 37 Manhattans."
So would these reintroduced birds be a blessing or a curse?
Anyone else catch the article "The Mammoth Cometh" in last Sunday's magazine section? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazi...ometh.html It describes the very real steps being taken right now to revive extinct species. It is all quite controversial but guess which animal is up first for revival? Yep, our very own passenger pigeon. They were bigger than the rock pigeon we all love to hate now. If we get them back in any sizable numbers perhaps they'll keep down the rock pigeon numbers.
Try this out for a comparison in numbers between the two pigeon species:
"In 1860, a naturalist observed a single flock that he estimated to contain 3,717,120,000 pigeons. By comparison, there are currently 260 million rock pigeons in existence. A single passenger-pigeon nesting ground once occupied an area as large as 850 square miles, or 37 Manhattans."
So would these reintroduced birds be a blessing or a curse?
