Many people think that pigeons are akin to "rats with wings". These images might change your mind, though. Upon first sight, many people wouldn't know that these are pigeons. Due to selective breeding, there are all kinds of pigeons out there with vastly different looks. The Budapest Tumbler, aka the Bug-Eyed Acrobat, has huge eyes and looks like it just saw a ghost. The Silver Jacobin looks like it's wearing a fancy cloak made out of feathers.
These lithographs of fancy pigeons from 1906 come from Emil Schachtzabels book Prachtwerk. From the Public Domain Review: "The lithographs from this work collected below, based on watercolor templates by Anton Schöner, illustrate the seemingly limitless boundaries of domesticated pigeons, as several birds intrude beyond their frames into the margins of the page."
Who knew pigeons had such range? Surprisingly, all of these pigeons come from the same bird. Every one of these traces its lineage back to the rock pigeon (Columba livia). Nature gave us gray birds, and humans bred the fancy versions.
Unnatural Selection: Emil Schachtzabel's Pigeon *Prachtwerk* (1906) — The Public Domain Review
See also: A woman recalls her LSD-induced love affair with a pigeon
