Some people love them.

有些人很愛他們。

"Everybody thinks that they're dirty and nasty, but they're actually not."

「大家都覺得他們很髒、很噁心，但其實他們不會。」

"They're a dove."

「他們其實就是白鴿的一種啊。」

"All they are is doves."

「他們就只是鴿子。」

"Ah, you're a dove."

「啊，你是一隻鴿子。」

Other people, not so much.

其他人就沒那麼喜歡了。

"I hate them."

「我討厭他們。」

"They get way too close."

「他們靠得太近。」

"I don't let people into the personal space that pigeons get into."

「我不會讓人進入鴿子進來的個人空間。」

"They're just aggressive."

「他們太有攻擊性了。」

But whatever your stance may be, if you live in a city, you have to deal with them.

但不管你的立場如何，如果你住在城市裡，就得和鴿子相處。

While pigeons are clearly at home in American cities like New York, they're actually native to seaside cliffs halfway around the world, in North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, where we domesticated them 5,000 years ago.

鴿子雖然把很多美國城市當家，例如紐約，但他們其實來自另一半世界的崖邊，像北非、中東、歐洲，我們是在五千年前馴養了他們。

At first, we farmed them for a source of protein, like chicken.

一開始，我們是為了把他們當蛋白質來源而養殖他們，就跟雞一樣。

Then we bred them as messengers.

接著我們養育他們為送信者。

In the eigth century BC, for example, the Greeks used pigeons to send results from the Olympic Games to nearby towns.

在西元前八世紀，希臘人就利用鴿子向鄰近城鎮傳送奧運的結果。

And by the 16th century, pigeons had reached the ultimate peak.

到十六世紀時，鴿子已經到最終高峰。

Hobbyists began breeding the birds for show.

業餘愛好者開始為了秀而養育鴿子。

Akbar the Great, for example, reportedly had 10,000 show pigeons in his personal collection.

例如阿克巴大帝，據說他的個人收藏裡有一萬隻演出用的鴿子。

Suffice it to say, humans and pigeons were inextricably linked.

不用再多說了，人類和鴿子密不可分地被聯結。

And that's why Europeans who migrated to North America in the 1600s brought some of these birds with them.

這就是為何在十六世紀移民到北美的歐洲人，帶了一些鴿子過去。

And surprise, surprise: "They escaped, and that's kind of what formed these feral populations in cities around the world."

驚喜來了，「鴿子逃走了，這大概是世界城市裡鳥類數量的形成原因。」

That's biologist Elizabeth Carlen, who studies pigeons at Fordham University.

這是生物學家 Elizabeth Carlen，她在福坦莫大學研究鴿子。

Once pigeons escaped, their population exploded, especially in cities.

一旦鴿子逃跑，他們的數量會大幅增長，尤其在城市更甚。

Because, as Carlen says, cities are essentially tailor-made for these birds.

如同 Carlen 所言，城市基本上是為這些鳥特製的。

For one, pigeons can thrive on human food, unlike, say, robins or cardinals.

第一個，鴿子可以靠人類食物過活，知更鳥和紅衣鳳頭鳥就不行。

"What we have here is pigeons eating it looks like rice and bagels and probably doughnuts in there as well, and that ability to consume all this food waste has really made them very successful in cities."

「我們可以看到鴿子在吃看起來像米和貝果的東西，可能還有甜甜圈，具備把這些剩餘食物吃掉的能力，讓他們在城市裡很成功。」

But it's not just our leftovers they're noshing on.

但他們不是只會吃剩菜。

We also feed them.

我們也會餵食他們。

"Spike."

「Spike。」

"That's Spike."

「這是 Spike。」

As a result, pigeons spend a lot less time searching for food and a lot more time breeding, which they can actually do without trees.

結論是，鴿子花很少時間捕食，花很多時間在養育，他們養育甚至用不著樹。」

In their native range, pigeons nest on rocky seaside cliffs.

在原生地，鴿子可以在崎嶇的海岸崖邊築巢。

"And cities often mimic that by having tall buildings and by having places for pigeons to nest within that, such as fire escapes or AC units or even just ledges that are built in decoratively on the building all mimic those cliffs."

「城市的高樓往往很像崖邊，可以讓鴿子有空間築巢，例如空調出口或是在建築物上裝飾的壁架，都很像那些懸崖。」

But there's another reason why pigeons are so successful in cities.

但鴿子還有另一個在城市成功的原因。

They're incredible navigators.

他們是很厲害的導航器。

Some of these birds can find their way home from nearly 1,000 kilometers away.

有些鴿子可以在將近一千公里之外找到回家的路。

And those navigation skills serve them well in a complex cityscape.

那些導航技巧在複雜的城路網絡中發揮了作用。

“That is likely linked to their ability to find food within the city and know where food sources previously were and go and check on those food sources.”

「這能力很可能也用在找尋食物，他們知道先前的食物來源在哪，會再去查看那些食物來源。」

So how many pigeons live in cities anyway?

所以城市裡到底有多少鴿子？

In New York there's an adage: one pigeon for every person.

紐約有句諺語：一人一隻鴿子。

That would be more than 8 million birds.

大概有超過八百萬隻鴿子。

And whether or not that's true, urbanites have decided on one thing: The city isn't large enough for the both of them.

不管是不是真的，城市居民都認同一件事：城市對鴿子和對人來說都不夠大。

"I got nothing for them."

「我沒任何東西給他們。」

"I don't got food. I don't got money. I got nothing."

「我沒有食物、沒有錢、什麼都沒有。」

“Leave me alone.”

「讓我一個人。」

In 2003, for example, things got so bad in New York's Bryant Park that a professional falconer was hired to scare them away.

例如在 2003 年，紐約布萊恩特公園的狀況糟到需要聘請一位專業的訓練獵鷹者來嚇走鴿子。

And it's not just American cities.

這不只發生在美國城市。

In Bangkok for example, officials have considered imposing jail time for people who feed the birds.

例如在曼谷，官方正在考慮把餵食鴿子的人丟進監獄。

But here's the thing: As long as we have thriving cities, pigeons will live in them.

但這件事改不了：只要我們有茁壯的城市，鴿子就會住在裡頭。

In fact, the only thing that might control their populations, aside from cleaning up, is natural predators.

事實上，除了掃蕩外，唯一能控制他們數量的只有大自然的獵食者。

"For a long time, pigeons didn't have natural predators within cities."

「有很長一段時間，鴿子在城市中沒有天生的獵食者。」

That's thanks in part to the insecticide DDT, which Americans started using in the 1940s.

一部分原因歸咎於殺蟲劑 DDT，美國人大約在 1940 年代開始用它。

"The use of DDT made eggshells very thin and decreased the population of raptors such as peregrine falcons and Cooper's hawks and red-tailed hawks."

「DDT 讓蛋殼變得很薄，減少猛禽類的數量，例如花梨鷹、庫柏鷹、紅尾鷹。」

But in 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT, and as a result: "Those predators are now moving back into the city."

但在 1972 年，美國國家環境保護署禁止了 DDT，也因此「那些獵食者現在搬回了城市。」

And with so much to eat, they probably won't be leaving anytime soon.

有這麼多東西可以吃，他們可能暫時不會離開這裡了。