What was the first bird to be domesticated by humans?

daddy1161992

Chicken Oct 27 05, 12:12 PM

UT-7	Domestic pigeon. Oct 27 05, 12:23 PM

picqero

Well, Noah released a raven to look for dry land, after which he sent a dove. Oct 27 05, 3:58 PM

stina_girl1

sorry but daddy, UT, and pic. you three are allwrong. try again. Oct 27 05, 7:00 PM

lanfranco

Well, there seems to be some dispute about this, out there in Internet Land. It's either the goose or the mallard duck. Oh, and another site claims that it was the Rock Dove. Take your pick. This seems to be yet another question that cannot be decisively answered. After all, even paleontologists can only speculate on the basis of such evidence as they have found to date. That evidence could always be superseded ... Oct 27 05, 7:48 PM

UT-7

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2001908179_pigeons21.html Many people think of pigeons as an unavoidable part of the urban landscape, like cars. But the species — Columba livia — has been around several million years and likely preceded the chicken as the first bird to be domesticated by humans. Is it also wrong ? Oct 27 05, 8:37 PM

my_baby_love

The Dodo bird. Oct 28 05, 7:02 AM

lanfranco

Don't think so, mbl. In the first place, the Dodo wasn't pleasant to eat and had a nasty temperament. In the second place, as Jared Diamond has pointed out, animals to be domesticated must possess certain qualities -- either they're worth eating, or they are amenable to being trained for work, or both. Dodos known to the 16th and 17th centuries were kept in captivity primarily as curiosities. They were never actually "domesticated." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo Oct 28 05, 4:35 PM