Pigeons

Jean-Léon Gérôme - Women Feeding Pigeons
Jean-Léon Gérôme – Women Feeding Pigeons

The pigeon we’re most familiar with is the domesticated rock pigeon1. Because of this thousands-of-years-long domestication, their modern distribution is much more widespread than their native range (generously estimated below):

g.columba s.livia distributions (maroon: native, pink: contemporary)

Humans wanted pigeons around because they ate them and loved them as pets, but they discarded them in the second half of the last century, and now they’re just part of the refuse of cities. Here follows more pigeon facts:

If you want to listen to more pigeon facts, I highly recommend the Surprisingly Awesome podcast.