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Pigeon keeping is the art and science of breeding domestic pigeons. People have practised pigeon keeping for about 10,000 years in almost every part of the world. In that time, mankind has substantially altered the morphology and the behaviour of the domesticated descendants of the rock dove to suit his needs for food, aesthetic satisfaction and entertainment. People who breed pigeons are commonly referred to as pigeon fanciers.〔Wendell (1977) 1〕 The hobby is gaining in popularity in the United States, after having waned within the last 50 years. Both the hobby and commercial aspects of keeping pigeons are thriving in other parts of the world. ==Types of pigeons kept== The rock dove, which is generally believed to be the ancestor of domesticated pigeons,〔Wendell (1977) 37〕 was probably domesticated around ten thousand years ago. There are hundreds of breeds of domesticated pigeons arising from this common ancestor which are currently cultivated by pigeon fanciers. Because of the large number of domesticated breeds, pigeon fanciers find it convenient for certain purposes to group sets of domesticated pigeons into larger groups. In the United States and United Kingdom, there are three major recognized groups of breeds of domesticated pigeons: * Flying/Sporting * Fancy * Utility It is worth noting that pigeon fanciers in other nations use different schemes in grouping domesticated pigeons; for example, a nationwide pigeon organization in Germany 〔(【引用サイトリンク】VDT Online )〕 uses a far different grouping scheme.〔(【引用サイトリンク】VDT Online )〕 The Australian grouping system is similar to the UK/European groupings. For example, see: Major breed families of fancy pigeon. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「pigeon keeping」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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