Carrier pigeons were used to carry messages in World War I and World War II. Carrier pigeons historically carried messages only one way, to their home. They had to be transported manually back. However with training, pigeons can fly back and forth reliably and also can carry up to 75g on their backs.
Here is a link about a quite famous pigeon, Cher Ami, among the infantrymen it worked for. He was injured in the last week of the war and lost his foot, the message got through to save a large group of surrounded American infantrymen.
http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part1/3b_cherami.html
This reminds me of Harry Potter and how they use owls to communicate with each other. Maybe JK Rowlings got the idea for her story
ReplyDeleteI love reading about animals and their interesting connections to human beings. I have always been interested in the carrier pigeons. How do they know exactly whom to deliver the message to? Do they deliver it to a location and then whomever receives it gets the letter? Cool topic choice!
ReplyDeleteXlaohui, that was a great post. I knew pigeons were used to carry messages during the war, but I never knew they had cameras attached to them also. It's amazing these birds knew where to fly to deliver the messages - they have a great sense of direction. Communication is vital during wartime, using birds to deliver messages was a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing how pigeons were used as messengers. I find it almost unbelievable that they could carry that carry that much weight.
ReplyDeleteI don't think much of pigeons, but this one was famous. I forgot about pigeons being used to carry messages. It's true though, the pigeon has an instinct to go home, so you can only really send him one way, but with enough practice and moving a pigeon to one place and back, I guess he'd consider a few places home. I still don't quite see how you can send pigeons out and expect them to go where you want them to, but I guess it worked out fine for them. But for me, I'll just text someone if I need to send them a message. I guess we can consider the satellites up in space as our current carrier pigeons.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was going to say how reliable is a pigeon in time of need, but all animals can be trained. Harry Potter definatley had a pigeon that he relied on, but got killed. Who does the training and how do they train them to go across the world?
ReplyDeletePigeon messaging was a very clever way to communicate. No enemy would ever think a pigeon could be sending messages to the other side. The only thing I see that is a detriment is the pigeon not showing up to its destination. I remember Harry Potter used a bird for carrying messages. I think that this could possibly be the influence on the author to that story.
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