To the layperson , thedifferencebetween pigeons and doves has something to do withcolor — peradventure . Or location . Or cosmopolitan entreaty ( doves usually get much better jam than pigeons do ) . But what ’s the actual scientific difference between peacenik andpigeons ?
As it turns out , there is n’t one . Paul Sweet , the assemblage manager for the section of ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History , tell the difference is more linguistic than taxonomic .
“ The worddoveis a Word of God that came into English from the more Nordiclanguages , whereaspigeoncame into English from French , ” Sweet told Mental Floss in 2018 .
Bothdoveandpigeonrefer to the 300 - plus specie ofbirdsin theColumbidaefamily , Sweet said . There ’s no divergence between a pigeon and a dove in scientific language , but conversational English be given to categorise them by size . Something phone adoveis generally modest than something send for apigeon , but that ’s not always the case . A common pigeon , for deterrent example , is call both arock doveand arock pigeon .
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“ People just have their own categorization for what make them different , ” Sweet enunciate . “ So in the Pacific , for exercise , the big unity might get calledpigeonsand the lowly ones might be calleddoves , but they ’re really more nearly related to to each other than they are to other thing in , say , South America , that are calledpigeonsanddoves . ”
The difference boils down to linguistic tradition , so feel free to tell people you ’re release pigeon on your wedding or that you ’re feeding doves in the parking area . Scientifically speak , you ’ll be correct either elbow room .
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A version of this tale pass in 2018 ; it has been update for 2024 .
