Pigeon in the context of "Cosmopolitan distribution"

Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant males and females will sexually reproduce and have offspring together. Domesticated animals are known as breeds, normally bred by a professional breeder, while domesticated plants are known as varieties, cultigens, cultivars, or breeds. Two purebred animals of different breeds produce a crossbreed, and crossbred plants are called hybrids. Flowers, vegetables and fruit-trees may be bred by amateurs and commercial or non-commercial professionals: major crops are usually the provenance of the professionals.

In animal breeding artificial selection is often combined with techniques such as inbreeding, linebreeding, and outcrossing. In plant breeding, similar methods are used. Charles Darwin discussed how selective breeding had been successful in producing change over time in his 1859 book, On the Origin of Species. Its first chapter discusses selective breeding and domestication of such animals as pigeons, cats, cattle, and dogs. Darwin used artificial selection as an analogy to propose and explain the theory of natural selection but distinguished the latter from the former as a separate process that is non-directed.

A Chabutro (also spelt Chabutaro; Gujarati) or Chabutra (Hindi) is a tower-like structure found in India that provides nesting sites for birds, especially pigeons. People, particularly Hindu consider it auspicious to feed pigeons and in morning women, men and even children come to feed pigeons at such Chabutras and as such you can see Chabutra outside villages, where Hindu population is more and also can find Chabutra inside Hindu Temples.

The base of the structure typically has a sitting platform and serves as a social gathering place. Both names for this structure derive from kabutar and kubatar, the respective Gujarati and Hindi words for 'pigeon', and they are both occasionally used in a broader sense to indicate any sitting platform, usually under a tree or beside any body of water, especially in northern India.

The difficulty of defining or measuring intelligence in non-human animals makes the subject difficult to study scientifically in birds. In general, birds have relatively large brains compared to their head size. Furthermore, bird brains have two-to-four times the neuron packing density of mammal brains, for higher overall efficiency. The visual and auditory senses are well developed in most species, though the tactile and olfactory senses are well realized only in a few groups. Birds communicate using visual signals as well as through the use of calls and song. The testing of intelligence in birds is therefore usually based on studying responses to sensory stimuli.

The corvids (ravens, crows, jays, magpies, etc.) and parrots are often considered the most intelligent birds, and are among the most intelligent animals in general. Pigeons, finches, chickens, and birds of prey have also been common subjects of intelligence studies.

Game pie is a form of meat pie featuring game. The dish dates from Roman times when the main ingredients were wild birds and animals such as partridge, pheasant, deer, and hare. The pies reached their most elaborate form in Victorian England, with complex recipes and specialized moulds and serving dishes. Modern versions are simpler but savoury combinations of rabbit, venison, pigeon, pheasant, and other commercially available game.