Plenty love for doves but not so much for 'rats with wings'

Scientists have been analysing the DNA of domestic pigeons and wild doves to study the extent of mixing between the breeds

Pictured: pigeons at Cork's Peace Park. Scientists have been comparing the DNA of pigeons and wild doves

The dove, international symbol of peace, represents the Holy Ghost in Christian iconography. Andrew Blechman in Pigeons: the Fascinating Saga of the World’s most Revered and Reviled Bird says that they have themselves been worshipped as fertility goddesses. Carrier pigeons served every superpower from ancient Egypt to modern times. News of the outcome at Waterloo in 1815 came courtesy of an avian courier. Pigeons which ran the gauntlet of enemy fire during ‘the Great War’, had Croix-de-Guerre-type medals awarded to them.

Nor do doves benefit only humans. Lowly ‘street’ pigeons are a steady source of food for large raptors, enabling peregrines, which came close to extinction here during the 1960s, to breed in our towns and cities.