DOVE

DOVE

·        Introduction

doves are the bird family Columbidae.

The common names Colum biform bird and dove area unit typically used interchangeably. In zoological science, "dove" tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones. The wild pigeon is commonly known as the "rock dove": it's common in several cities.

There area unit quite three hundred species within the family. They usually create nests of sticks, and therefore their 2 white eggs area unit incubated by each the male and the mother. Doves feed on seeds, fruit and plants.

Unlike most alternative birds, the doves and pigeons turn out a sort of milk. It is made in their crop, and known as crop milk. Both sexes have this extremely nourishing milk to feed their young.

·        Distribution and habitats

Pigeons and dove’s area unit distributed everyplace on Earth, aside from the driest areas of the Sahara, Antarctica and its close islands and therefore the high Arctic. They have colonised most of the world's oceanic islands. They are in eastern Polynesia and the Chatham Islands in the Pacific, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

The family has tailored to most of the habitats out there on the world. Doves is also arboreal or terrestrial or part terrestrial. Species sleep in savannas, grasslands, deserts, temperate woodlands and forests, mangrove forests, and even the barren sands and gravels of atolls. Some species have large natural ranges.

·        The dodo and the solitaire

The dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire are two famous flightless birds on the Macarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. They are extinct, but were alive before sailors found the islands. They had no concern of humans, whom they'd never seen. The sailors hunted them, and killed them for food. Both species are now extinct. Animals introduced by man can also have afraid them. Their anatomy (osteology) and polymer sequence analyses show they were area unit within the bird family.

·        As a symbol

In the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean, doves were used as symbols for the Canaanite mother goddess Asherah, the Phoenician goddess Tanit, and the Roman goddesses Venus and Fortunate. [5]

The Christian image of a dove with associate degree offering in its beak represents peace and comes from Genesis 8:6 - twelve, additionally John 1:32–34. The Christian stories came when terribly similar myths from earlier cultures. The Chaldean story the Epic of king, Utnapishtim releases a dove and raven to find land; however, the dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, which does not return, and Utnapishtim concludes the raven has found land.

·        As food

Several species of pigeons and dove’s area unit used as food, and doubtless any can be. The powerful breast muscles of the family create glorious meat. Domesticated or afraid Colum biform bird were used as food in geographic area, Ancient Rome and medieval Europe. It is acquainted meat inside soul, Arab, Assamese and French cuisines. According to the sacred writing, doves are kosher, and they are the only birds that may be used for a korban (offering). Other kosher birds is also eaten, but not brought as a korban. It is additionally eaten up in Asian cuisines, like Chinese and Indonesian cooking. Young pigeons in cuisine are known as "squabs".