Amazing facts about Doves by @offia66

Greetings pet lovers.

Doves are amazing animals. Their capacity to find their way home over hundreds, even thousands of kilometres is unrivalled in the animal kingdom. This uncanny ability has seen them used for centuries to deliver messages for royalty, military leaders and other notable figures.

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Amazing facts about Doves.

• The pigeon beats its wings up to ten times per second, while maintaining a heart rate of 600 beats per minute and goes up to 16 hours without rest.
• When eating they are in fact collecting food into their oesophagus. They will then digest this food at a later time.
• Doves have no gall bladder. Although the reason behind this anomaly in unknown, interestingly, these birds still produce bile (it’s simply secreted directly into the gut).
• Both the male and the female of Columbidae species produce milk for their young.
• Their milk is called crop milk. It contains a higher level of protein and fat than the milk produced by mammals.
• Doves have an excellent knack for adapting themselves to almost any environment. The only places they are not found are in places of extreme conditions such as deserts and the Antarctic.

Reproduction in Doves

• Females almost always lay two eggs at a time. Although possible, it is very rare to lay one egg, as is three or more eggs.
• Doves are prolific breeders. Females have been known to reach sexual maturity after 7 months.
• Eggs are typically laid 8-12 days after mating, which then hatch an additional 18 days later.
• Such a short gestation period means a pair of doves can have up to 9 broods in a year.
• in captivity, pigeons often live up to 30 years of age. However, in urban population they seldom live past 3 or 4.
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