| Indian Fantail | ||||||||
| Conservation Status | Common | |||||||
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| Pigeon (Columba livia) | ||||||||
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The Indian Fantail is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding. Indian Fantails, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons are all descendants from the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia).[1]
The introduction of this variety to the U.S.A. was a strange one. In 1926. A shipment of four pythons was on its way to the San Diego Zoo in California from India. The journey over seas lasted many days and to ensure the reptiles didn’t go hungry, Indian fantail pigeons, found exclusively in India until then, were given to the pythons as snake feed.
By the time the ship reached California, only two survived.
The keepers at the San Diego Zoo who had obviously never seen Indian fantail pigeons before were so taken by their distinct looks that they decided to keep, and later breed and develop them. It was from these two lucky birds that the species of Indian fantail pigeons spread beyond Indian shores and reached the farthest corners of the world.[2]