Life after stardom: The social fall from grace but enduring scientific value of the pigeon (Columba livia) as a model of neurocognitive senescence

The rock dove (Columba livia), more commonly known as the pigeon, has had a long and complex relationship with humans. Domesticated thousands of years ago, pigeons likely appealed to early humans as a source of meat and for their impressive homing ability, which was exploited as humanity’s first form of high-speed, long‑distance communication. Despite this history, pigeons experienced a social fall from grace during the first half of the 20th century, becoming widely regarded as urban nuisances (“rats with wings”). Importantly, however, this shift in public reverence was not accompanied by a decline in scientific relevance. Throughout the 20th century, pigeons remained important laboratory models, contributing foundational insights into learning, behavior, and cognition. By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, research increasingly highlighted the relative resilience of pigeons compared to mammals to the effects of aging, prompting growing interest in avian senescence. The present review synthesizes research on pigeons as models of neurocognitive senescence and considers their continued and future value for understanding avian senescence, as well as vertebrate aging processes more generally.