Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. LiveScience The rock pigeon's funky hairdos have been pinned to a single gene mutation that signals head and neck feathers to grow up ...

Step aside, fashion chickens; it’s time for a fancy pigeon to shine in the spotlight! The pigeon breeds that we see in cities are just the tip of the feathered iceberg. There are lots of beautiful and ...

Your standard street pigeon might seem like a bore, but pigeon fanciers well know that the species as a whole is quite the opposite. Pigeons come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Some have feathers ...

Charles Darwin was obsessed with domestic pigeons. He thought they held the secrets of selection in their beaks. Free from the bonds of natural selection, the 350-plus breeds of domestic pigeons have ...

A small white pigeon raised its head from between Terry Gier’s fingers. It’s a Valencian Figurita, he said, first bred in Spain centuries ago. Behind him, around 20 other pigeons lounged in cages — ...

The rock pigeon's funky hairdos have been pinned to a single gene mutation that signals head and neck feathers to grow up rather than down in a tamer fashion, report researchers who have just decoded ...

Biologists discovered that a mutation in the ROR2 gene is linked to beak size reduction in numerous breeds of domestic pigeons. Surprisingly, different mutations in ROR2 also underlie a human disorder ...