Pigeons were used as convey massages in early days. They were called pigeon messengers. Pigeons were trained to deliver the parcel or note to particular places.
These pigeons are specially breded. They have trained to learn their way home over a long distance. Notes or parcel were tied to pigeon's legs or sometimes put in their mouths. First time this pigeon messengers were used in 776 BC. This technique was excessively used in World War I.
Here is a video that shows use of pigeon messengers in World War I.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO7VTERTn1M&feature=related
I still can't believe pigeons were used as mail carriers. How would people know that their message was delivered? I guess if the pigeon came back without a message attached to it. But even then how would they know if the pigeon delivered it to the right person, or if the pigeon just scraped up against a tree and lost the message? I think if we tried to use these kinds of pigeons today it would be a nightmare, especially in cities. Seeing how much the population changed since then, they might only work out in less crowded farm lands. I think it's pretty cool that we harnessed animal power to our advantage. Maybe in the future we will have personal flying robotic pigeons delivering our packages.
ReplyDeleteI wonder who came up with this idea. What exactly were they doing back in 773 B.C. to say "hey lets tie notes (parchment) to these birds and train them to fly to a specific area"? It’s hard to believe soldiers had to rely on pigeons to get their messages through. It makes you wonder how many lost their messages or how many were shot down by enemy soldiers. I don't think I would want to rely on a bird especially if my life could be at stake
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