Interesting facts about canaries Is a great opportunity to learn more about songbirds. Canaries, like parrots, many keep in their homes. They have a bright color and have a clear voice.
So, here are the most interesting facts about canaries.
- Domestic canaries originate from the finches that live in the Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira.
- Over the past 5 centuries, during which man was able to domesticate the canary, the vocal apparatus of birds has seriously changed. Today they are the only pets to have a changed voice.
- Did you know that the canary is able to distinguish the sequence of sounds, memorize them and reproduce them from memory? As a result, the bird can develop a certain manner of singing.
- It is a myth that miners allegedly took canaries with them to the mine as an indicator of oxygen levels. This is due to the fact that canaries were too expensive for such purposes, so the miners used common wild birds (see interesting facts about birds).
- The canary has an undulating flight path.
- As of today, there are over 120 species of canaries in the world.
- At home, a canary often lives up to 15 years of age.
- An interesting fact is that competitions in canary singing are held annually in Europe.
- The canary was first introduced to the Russian Empire from Italy in the second half of the 16th century.
- In tsarist Russia, large canary breeding centers for these birds worked.
- Recent research by scientists suggests that the canary has a positive effect on the human psyche.
- In the criminal world, the canary symbolizes an informant who "sings to the police."
- There are 3 canary clubs in Moscow, including the Russian Canary Support Fund.
- When keeping several canaries in the house, the cells of each of them are usually placed one on top of the other. Otherwise, the birds will start to annoy each other and stop singing.
- Initially, canaries were sold only in Spain (see interesting facts about Spain). The Spaniards kept the bird habitat a closely guarded secret. They sold only males abroad to prevent foreigners from breeding canaries too.
- Once, the price of a competitive canary could exceed the cost of a cavalry horse.
- Nikolai II was a big fan of canary singing.
- The Russian canary was a favorite bird of such outstanding personalities as Turgenev, Glinka, Bunin, Chaliapin and many others.