Charles Darwin bred pigeons, and used them to learn more about the inheritance of different characteristics. For pigeons, beak size is one of those characteristics. There are 350 pigeon breeds or more ...

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 ...

in 1855, Charles Darwin took up a new hobby. He started raising pigeons. "The diversity of the breeds is something astonishing," he wrote in "On the Origin of Species." Pigeon breeding, he argued, was ...

Humans have shaped the domestic pigeon into hundreds of breeds of various shapes, colors and attributes — a diversity that captivated Charles Darwin, who even conducted breeding experiments on his own ...

Researchers have decoded the genetic blueprint of the rock pigeon, unlocking secrets about pigeons' Middle East origins, feral pigeons' kinship with escaped racing birds, and how mutations give ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Mutations in key genes determine feather color in domestic pigeons, and the same genes control pigmentation of human skin, U.S. researchers say. "Mutations in these ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 6, 2014 – Scientists at the University of Utah identified mutations in three key genes that determine feather color in domestic rock pigeons. The same genes control pigmentation ...

Scientists have identified mutations in three key genes that determine feather color in domestic rock pigeons. The same genes control pigmentation of human skin and can be responsible for melanoma and ...