Pigeons were used for communication as early as 1150.It is said that the Persians and Egyptians were the first to use MESSENGER PIGEONS. Pigeons were effective as messengers due to their natural HOMING ABILITIES.This method was used before the use of TELEGRAPHS.
Pigeons were used by kings for sending urgent messages. They were even used during Franco-Prussian war and as military messengers during World War II.
WHO SHOWED WAY TO THESE PIGEONS? How did these pigeons knew their way to their destination?? How long and how fast can they fly?? You will know the answers for all these questions after reading this POST.
A special kind of PIGEONS called HOMING PIGEONS were used for this purpose. They are called so because they have HOMING ABILITIES. Which means that wherever they are they can come back to their home. This ABILITY of these homing pigeons were used for transporting IMPORTANT messages over LONG distances SAFELY and sometimes SECRETLY. The pigeons consider a place as HOME after they stay at a place with their MATE. They have a strong tendency to come back to their Mates.
When you RAISE a pigeon at your place for long time they consider that place as their home. If you take this pigeon to any other place and release it there, it will go back to their home which is the place where you raised it. This technique was used to transport messages over long distances.So the pigeon carrying the message is actually the RECEIVER'S PIGEONS. The Pigeons can travel only ONE WAY. The PIGEONS were then carried back MANUALLY. This is how the messages were sent over long distances.
You would have a question in your mind about how a pigeon finds its way back home. There are so many things which the pigeons take as a clue for finding their way back. Pigeons roaming in a small area use the landmarks, man made roads and also ODOUR. They can remember places and also have the ability to differentiate different smells.
Pigeons have a kind of built-in GPS. It is something called MAGNOCEPTION.It is a sense which allows an animal to detect a magnetic field to know the direction, altitude or location. This sense helps PIGEONS to find their way back home.For the purpose of navigation, magnetoception deals with the detection of the Earth’s magnetic field. Magnetoception has been observed in bacteria. It has also been commonly hypothesized in birds, where sensing of the Earth's magnetic field may be important to the navigational abilities during migration.This sense is also there in insects (including fruit flies and honeybees), and animals such as turtles, lobsters, sharks and stingrays.
So, this is how the pigeons find their way back home. Wait I have to tell you the answer of one more qusestion "How LONG and how FAR can they fly?" The numbers are quite amazing. They can fly as long as long 1,800 km. Their average FLYING SPEED over moderate distances (500 miles)is around 80 km/hr but speeds of up to 177 km/hr have been observed in RACES.
So, this is how the pigeons find their way back home. Wait I have to tell you the answer of one more qusestion "How LONG and how FAR can they fly?" The numbers are quite amazing. They can fly as long as long 1,800 km. Their average FLYING SPEED over moderate distances (500 miles)is around 80 km/hr but speeds of up to 177 km/hr have been observed in RACES.
