The last one, Martha, died unhappily and alone in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. You can imagine just how sad life was for the poor creature if you understand that passenger pigeons liked each other's company so much that they traveled in flocks of billions! It really only took about 350 years for the passengers to go from an estimated 6 BILLION in North America, to this final extinction of the beautiful looking bird. It was a hard job, but some people in their wisdom decided they had to do it.
Some things to ponder
People and predator animals liked them just fine for food, but their enormous flocks seriously decimated crops and the landscape in general. It would have been hopeless to try and and keep farming under their onslaught, remembering that farming or population size wasn't anywhere near the size or the technological marvel of today. Modern intensive monoculture farming would be completely unable to handle such attacks, and the loss would be enormous.
Can't afford that, because now we've got to feed billions of people on the planet. But hey, if they get too numerous, you could always design a bigger, better weapon to keep them in check. Modern technology can do anything.
Sometimes we have to accept the demise of certain creatures. some easier than others. After all, although all I've read about them fascinates me, to be frank, I'm sort of glad we don't have dinosaurs padding around these days. It would make me very uncomfortable. I'm glad the scientists aren't thinking about recreating them, too. But, let's face it, they are predicting the woolly mammoth will be reborn through genome research--even possibly this year!
Gonna take a lotta food for that baby. . .
The Dodo bird too, poor thing. Last seen in 1662, it was a harmless relative of our present day pigeons, found only in Mauritus. Tranquil, sweet natured, it was easy pickin's for the hunters of that time. So they killed them all off.
A whole lotta messin' goin' on!
Somehow the common pigeons have become so much a part of the urban landscape that you really don't pay much attention to them any longer. It's a strange thing, because even they're very numerous. It's estimated there are 400 million of them grubbing around for food, and sharing our planet!
And, if that doesn't startle you, remember the lady pigeon lays two eggs every 30 days, and babies emerge every 2 weeks!
It's okay. . . By order of the Government
Just a few days ago the hunters, led by their trusty Prime Minister, narrowly squeaked a victory to continue their sport of killing birds by the thousand. Each year this comes up--the battle between conservationists and hunters.
Some racy details - you too could earn $1 million!
They're worth a fortune. Pigeon racing fanciers will pay more than $4000 for a good racer! It's a very big deal in a lot of European countries. But maybe the greatest interest is shown at the annual South African Million Dollar Pigeon Race. This video shows the incredible scene as the pigeons are released, and start to race their way home.
So if you want to earn a million dollars fast, this might be the way to go!
Carrier Pigeons - Low Tech, and Lovely
They wear a tiny backpack, and deliver things like medications to remote patients, messages that will arrive much more swiftly than any post office mail, and have even been used by prisoners to receive and deliver drugs! Before the advent of texting, young children had great enjoyment in training carrier pigeons to deliver messages to each other! Needless to say, they're not affected by power failures, but do have to be a bit scared flying over areas where hunters shoot at them.
It's a mad world. Some scientists dream of reincarnating extinct species, others dream of killing them. Then there are the bunch who are madly bent on perfecting robots that overrule the commands by humans. Exciting times doesn't seem the description to cover it all!
The latest...
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Thank you for the visit today and wishing you a beautiful weekend!
Vicki