The dove is one of the earliest domesticated animals in history. But most of the time, we only see full-fledged pigeons, not young ones. Why?

Where did all the baby pigeons go?

“I’m always looking for a reason why we never see baby pigeons, which are unlike any other bird,” said Marc Devokaitis, public information expert at Cornell University, Laboratory Cornell experiment in New York said.

“The reason is simple: Most of the pigeons stay in the nest until they are fully feathered and large enough

The cliffs of Orkney Island, Scotland.

It turns out that baby pigeons just wiggle around in their nests until they are mature enough to migrate back to their home.

However, there are a few species that are rarely seen, such as the rock pigeon (Columba livia acosta) , especially those that make their nests on ledges or cliffs.

Because they live near the sea, they spend more time building their nests, baby pigeons grow faster and appear less often than other birds.

Pigeon chicks grow faster and appear less frequently than other birds.

On the island of Orkney, Scotland, UK, 19th century ornithologists discovered that rock pigeons “are numerous, they grow in rock crevics, but their nests are located at depths we absolutely inaccessible to them”.

“Before man-made cliffs and canyons were formed, wild rock pigeons used caves and ravines or coastal cliffs that met the requirements of flat, covered food to live.” , Devokaitis told LiveScience.

Today, due to the lack of natural cliffs and caves, our city structures are created and used as places for wild pigeons to live such as in churches, buildings or under the bridge,…

Pigeons today live in cities and are very close to humans.

Most baby pigeons spend 2 to 3 weeks in the nest. During this time, their parents will eat with their chicks, and the mother will give her babies milk rich in protein and fat secreted by her.

Pigeons will come out in as little as three to six weeks with the help of their mother , Devokaitis says. At that time, baby pigeons look more mature than other birds when they leave the nest, and it is difficult to distinguish them from their parents.

You may have seen a baby pigeon that looks like an adult pigeon.

If you pay close attention, you might be able to spot our chicks: “Looks like incomplete feather loss, dark or black eyes (adults have orange-red eyes) and feathers. main point (the longest feather on the bird’s wing),” Devokaitis said.