h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So any description in millions or billions would not have been hyperbole. This is amazing. I noticed on a recent programme about the antarctic there was reference to krill in tonnes. I wonder what a flock of these pigeons would have weighed.

Well done, most informative.

Thanks, Vestboy

I found it very hard to imagine what six billion birds would look like (I do bird surveys and regularly see flocks of many hundreds, which appear big enough). When I found the quote of a flock taking fourteen hours to fly past, however, I realised what an astounding number this really was. This was the spark that lit the Entry.

i appreciate your comments, thank you!

I don't usually get gushy about the state of the environment and us crushing everything we see, but I found this a very sad and affecting story. And I'd never heard of the passenger pidgeon before.

Very well done.

Thanks, Zeg

I guess the mindset that allows us to kill so many pigeons is similar to the mindset that allows us to stamp on ants. i.e. Loads of them, generally a pest. However the pigeons had the added attraction of being toothsome!

if ever there was an animal that did desrve the jurrassic park stylereintroduction thing this is it. It's not as if it would have died out naturally like the Dodo was likely to. If we can get over the scientific (population diversity) issues and the ethical ones thi is the species they should start with...