Free birds aren't fat: Weight gain in captured wild pigeons maintained under laboratory conditions.

@article{Poling1990FreeBA,
  title={Free birds aren't fat: Weight gain in captured wild pigeons maintained under laboratory conditions.},
  author={Alan Poling and Mark K Nickel and Ken Alling},
  journal={Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior},
  year={1990},
  volume={53 3},
  pages={
          423-4
        }
}
Nine feral pigeons, 5 from an urban setting and 4 from a rural setting, were captured and maintained for 42 days under free-feeding conditions comparable to those arranged for laboratory subjects. On average, birds increased their body weights by 17% over this period. The range of increase across birds was 9 to 30%. These findings suggest that the food deprivation arranged for laboratory pigeons, which is characteristically 80% of free-feeding weights, may in some sense be less severe than it… 
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