Part
1:
Written
originally in the magazine Pigeon Sport (UK), and
later reprinted in the Racing Pigeon Digest (USA),
a very intriguing, well-presented article on the breast
muscles of pigeons by Alan Wheeldon of Britain advanced
his views on the differences between the flight muscles
of sprint and distance birds. Like a welcome bolt
from the blue, the article, which was based on one
published in Scientific American (Sept, 2000) in reference
to human athletes, was certainly stimulating, as it
attempted to explain the differences between sprinting
strains vs distance strains of racing pigeons.
His proposal was based on a key structure in the muscle
fibres, actually a contractile protein known as myosin,
which is closely involved with the function of any
muscle, including the powerful major breast muscles
of the racing pigeon. The actual form of myosin present
in any muscle fibre determines its contraction velocity,
that is, its speed of operation, usually called its
twitch speed. Thus, the form of myosin in the thigh
muscles of humans trained for sprint events for example,
is different from the form of myosin in the thigh
muscles of humans who compete in endurance events.
Alan Wheeldon is certainly to be complimented for
his efforts, as they appeared to explain for perhaps
the first time, a fundamental, illuminating difference
between sprint and distance birds.
Oh,
if it were only so! How beautifully this logical information
would dovetail with what we would like to hope and
believe are tangible differences between sprint and
distance performing pigeons. Regrettably, this forward-looking
article, which is remarkable for its stimulating,
thought-provoking information, is based on the muscles
of human and other mammals, which are significantly
different from those of the great breast muscles of
the pigeon.
At
this juncture, I would also make the point that, in
general, sprinting as we describe it in pigeons is
completely different from, and therefore, in my opinion,
not at all comparable to sprinting in humans and other
racing mammals. For example, if a human athlete competes
in a 100 meter sprint event, what flight distance
(1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60, or more miles, etc.) for
pigeons is actually known to be exactly comparable??
How do we (or can we) measure and compare the two
in any meaningful way? I know that some fanciers like
to guess about this, but in the final analysis, that
is all it is - a guess.
I
would further suggest that comparing sprinting humans
and other racing mammals with sprinting pigeons is
very much like comparing chalk and cheese - which
is no comparison at all. One group competes on solid
earth, at distances up to a few hundred meters, and
the other competes in the air above it, at distances
up to a few hundred miles, so is it truly possible
to make valid comparisons? I have serious doubts about
this, but maybe someone knows the answer.
Add
to these points the fact that regardless of the distances
of the so-called sprint/middle distance races in which
our birds are entered, the birds utilise fat as the
major source of fuel during these races, as they certainly
do in long distance races as well. Conversely, sprinting
human and other mammalian athletes utilise primarily
glycogen as fuel in their races - so once again, any
comparison between human sprinters and sprinting pigeons
just doesn't seem to be valid at all. On a practical
level, perhaps we should simply refer to so-called
sprinting strains of pigeons as short/middle-distance
strains, terms I will use hereinafter.
Click
here to continue with Part 2:
Part
1:
Gordon
A Chalmers, DVM
