The Australian Saddleback Tumbler is a
breed of
fancy pigeon
Fancy pigeon refers to any breed of domestic pigeon, which is a domesticated form of the wild rock dove (''Columba livia''). They are bred by pigeon fanciers for various traits relating to size, shape, color, and behavior, and often exhibited at ...
developed over many years of
selective breeding
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant ma ...
.
Australian Saddleback Tumblers, along with other varieties of
domesticated pigeons, are all descendants of the
rock pigeon
The rock dove, rock pigeon, or common pigeon ( also ; ''Columba livia'') is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon".
The domestic pigeon (''Columba livia dome ...
(''Columba livia'').
As the name suggests, this breed is an Australian creation and was first recognized as a breed in 1917.
[Seymour, Rev. Colin (Ed)(2006) ''Australian Fancy Pigeons National Book of Standards''.]
The breed is usually muffed (feather-legged) but a clean-legged variety does exist. The name of the breed derives from a distinctive saddle-shaped marking on the back. The marking on the head can be either a stripe (most common) or a spot. Australian Saddleback Tumblers can be shown in any color, but some of the more common are black, red, yellow, blue, silver, almond, and andalusian.
See also
*
List of pigeon breeds
This is an alphabetical list of pigeon breeds. Pigeons and doves are members of the bird family Columbidae. Doves tend to be smaller and pigeons larger, although this distinction is not consistently applied.
The birds listed here are breeds of t ...
References
Pigeon breeds
Pigeon breeds originating in Australia
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