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Executive Times |
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2008 Book Reviews |
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Superdove:
How the Pigeon Took Manhattan ... And the World by Courtney Humphries |
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Rating: |
*** |
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(Recommended) |
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Click
on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
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Adaptation I
never thought I would read an entire book about pigeons. In fact, I opened
Courtney Humphries’ new book, Superdove:
How the Pigeon Took Manhattan ... And the World, fully expecting that it
would quickly land on the shelf of ennui. Instead, after a chapter or two, I was
hooked, and enjoyed her exploration of how these birds have adapted to urban
locations. Here’s an excerpt, pp. 110-111: We
can call pigeons superdoves because of their outstanding success.
But although they are "real" birds, every bit as part of nature as
any other animal, their success is shaped by people. A superhero is simply a
person who acquires special powers through some transformative event;
domestication gave pigeons the ability to become the superpower they are
today. One
day I called up Louis Lefebvre, a biologist in Montreal who had studied
learning and social behavior in pigeons. More recently, Lefebvre had been
studying innovation in birds—how well they learn new tasks and adapt their
behavior in order to find food. In addition to studying two wild bird species
in Barbados—a grackle and a dove—he had tested street pigeons near his lab.
In one experiment, Lefebvre examined whether birds can figure out how to get
at seed inside of a transparent Plexiglas box by pulling drawers or
removing a lid, a test of how innovative they could be in procuring food in
new ways. It was a test that Lefebvre expected feral pigeons to flunk, and he
seemed disappointed that they did not. "The
average Columbiform—the average bird of their family, pigeons and doves—is
really really dumb at that," he explained. The Barbados doves didn't
pass the test. But pigeons were much faster than predicted. "The only
conclusion is there's something special about pigeons that is different from
other Columbiforms," he said, "and the most plausible thing is that
they're feral." Superdoves
indeed: Lefebvre believes that their time in captivity may actually have
made pigeons more innovative than their wild brethren. They certainly don't
follow the usual pattern of innovation in birds. In a previous study,
Lefebvre and his colleagues looked at the relative success of introduced bird
species, which they compared to the frequency with which the birds try new
foods—a measure of innovation—and their brain size, a measure of
intelligence. In general, birds with larger brains tend to try new foods more
often, and these birds also prove to be better invaders. Pigeons, with their
paltry brain size, were an exception. The
idea that pigeons may have gotten cleverer at finding their way in the world
because of domestication is counterintuitive. We usually think of
domesticated animals as having lost the wits that wild animals need to stay
alive. But with pigeons there's a key difference: the dovecote. Unlike
other domesticated animals, pigeons never relied on humans entirely for their
food. People gave pigeons a little food but allowed them to fly in and out
freely to find the rest on their own. And since pigeons were good at homing,
they could be allowed this freedom and still return to the same nest and the
same mate. "We've done something really special with pigeons that we've
done with no other animal," Lefebvre said. "We've domesticated
them, but we haven't domesticated the foraging behavior." Even sheep and
cattle, which also have freedom to roam, are taken to pastures to graze by
their caretakers. At
the same time, however, pigeons were selected for an ability to tolerate
humans. And this lack of skittishness helps them survive in the crowds of
cities. "You've got the best of both worlds in terms of artificial
selection," Lefebvre said. Pigeons gained new characteristics, but they
never lost their most important survival skill. Though no one can know for
sure, Lefebvre believes that the pressures of artificial selection may have
even enhanced their capabilities for finding food, which would explain their
unexpected success at his test. Writers
who love their subjects tend to write well. Humphries wanted to see pigeons
on her honeymoon. That’s just one more reason for you to consider reading Superdove.
If you like change, learn from the masters of adaptation: the pigeon. Steve
Hopkins, November 20, 2008 |
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The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the December 2008 issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/Superdove.htm For Reprint Permission,
Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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