Justice for Pigeons - the rats with wings

After scrolling TikTok, Laura comes across a video about the true tragic origin story of the once messenger bird, turned forgotten street rat - the pigeon.  Turns out, this infamously hated city pest was once an essential part of human society.
Laura and Lucas are determined to find justice for this misunderstood creature, so they head to Dundas Square to find out how people feel about pigeons. Some pigeons can tell the difference between a Picasso and a Monet, so they put a few passersby to the test to see if they can do the same.
Despite people’s general dislike of pigeons, they’re actually extremely intelligent creatures. Through some research, Lucas and Laura learn that pigeons were the first domesticated bird. Thousands of years ago they were used for pets, food, and essential communication. Pigeons have an incredible homing ability, which means they can almost always find their way back to their nest. They use a combination of audio and visual landmarks, the position of the sun, and the earth’s magnetic fields for guidance. In the past, they were even seen as symbols of wealth and high status. Not to mention the incredible war heroes they became in World War 1 and World War 2. However, in the 1960s, respect for pigeons shifted when the New York Parks Commissioner dubbed them as “rats with wings”. Since then, pigeons have been widely misunderstood.
A few days later, Lucas is introduced to a local pigeon keeper and becomes a foster dad to a baby pigeon named Cinnamon. For 48 hours, Lucas does his best to befriend Cinnamon, but it’s not as easy as he expected. After a hawk flies onto his balcony and terrifies Cinnamon, Lucas realizes he needs to take a different approach. He does some research and learns that pigeons’ brains actually function similar to AI. Through associative learning, they can be trained to problem solve and can even multitask quicker than humans. They have incredible auditory senses and have the ability to recognize human faces.
With this in mind, Lucas decides to bring out his piano and play some calming classical music. Incredibly, Cinnamon starts to relax, and Lucas gains a whole new appreciation for the intelligence and complexity of this misunderstood bird.
Pigeon TikTok by Shmeedy22 :
vm.tiktok.com/ZM6VXs1xs/
CHAPTERS:
0:00 - 1:29 - justice for pigeons
1:30 - 3:32 - we take it to the streets
3:33 - 5:40 - the history of pigeons
5:41 - 7:22 - foster daddy
7:23 - 9:24 - Cinnamon hates me
9:25 - 10:18 - the hawk
10:19 - 11:07 - experiment gone wrong
11:08 - 12:10 - the pigeon brain
12:11 - 14:11 - a classical conclusion