Not only are all the varieties of pigeons still pigeons, however, but if allowed to interbreed they will revert to the common wild-type rock pigeon.
Invasives like mute swans and rock pigeons are wreaking ecological havoc throughout the United States and threatening countless native species.
This ‘reversion’ of characters was part of the evidence Darwin had marshalled to support the argument that even bizarrely modified and highly distinct breeds of domestic pigeon were all descended from the wild rock pigeon.
These birds also express high levels of a bacteriolytic lysozyme which is more similar in amino acid sequence to the rock pigeon than that of the domestic fowl.
Even if it doesn't get all the way home, a domestic rock pigeon stands a much better chance in the urban wild than a ring-neck dove.
Definition of rock pigeon in US English:
rock pigeon
noun
another term for rock dove
Example sentencesExamples
Invasives like mute swans and rock pigeons are wreaking ecological havoc throughout the United States and threatening countless native species.
These birds also express high levels of a bacteriolytic lysozyme which is more similar in amino acid sequence to the rock pigeon than that of the domestic fowl.
This ‘reversion’ of characters was part of the evidence Darwin had marshalled to support the argument that even bizarrely modified and highly distinct breeds of domestic pigeon were all descended from the wild rock pigeon.
Not only are all the varieties of pigeons still pigeons, however, but if allowed to interbreed they will revert to the common wild-type rock pigeon.
Even if it doesn't get all the way home, a domestic rock pigeon stands a much better chance in the urban wild than a ring-neck dove.