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Comment by sohkamyung | Hacker News Reader

I've read the book and it is full of fascinating examples of how urban environment are driving evolutionary changes in various animals.

I live in Singapore (one of the places he talks about in the book) and I can see anecdotal examples of the kind of things he talks about in the book, like urban birds being less anxious around humans compared to forest birds.

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For me the best example of that is Switzerland, although naturally this might happen in other places as well.

Basically sparrows are so used to humans that they don't have any problem landing on a table while people are still there, while trying to see if they get something out of us.

Some of them even adopt dog like behaviors, jumping left and right or making small noises, as if begging for some food.

I am really hoping this leads to domesticated swallows, which we can all keep as pets.

African or European?

Pigeons in Amsterdam often don't even flinch at approaching bikes and just sidestep what would otherwise probably be death or serious injury.

The crows in my neighborhood also have figured out how to deal with cars. They casually step aside when they see a car.

I was once on the balcony of the cafe at the modern art museum in Sydney, Australia, quietly drinking some coffee. A bright red bird landed on my table and was eyeing me closely.

I was thinking, "What in the world does this bird want? I don't have any food, and why would a bird want coffee?"

I figured out the answer. He made a bold grab for the sugar packet. It was too heavy to fly off with, so he just dragged it away from me, opened it, and ate it while I continued to drink my coffee.

Yeah, these urban feathered dinosaurs are shameless everywhere.

Great story, I had no idea they would like sugar.

I'm a student at the University of Waterloo in Canada. The Canada geese have become a running joke on campus. They're so accustomed to humans that they can be found grazing with their young alongside paths traversed by thousands of students moving from class to class. They make a giant mess everywhere but there is considerable resistance to having them removed. They're the most invasive and disgusting birds I've ever seen but their young are cute so people don't want them to get hurt.

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