File:Pigeons at NTR Trust Bhavan.ogv

English: DID YOU KNOW!!!

Scientific name: Columba livia domestica Higher classification: Rock dove Rank: Subspecies

They're the first bird's humans domesticated Humankind's relationship with pigeons dates back to the dawn of civilization, and likely even earlier than that. Domesticated pigeons, also known as rock doves, were first depicted in pictographic writing on clay tablets in the Mesopotamian period dating well over 5,000 years old. The Perfect Postman - Pigeons tend to be easy to capture, quick to breed, relatively docile, and highly “in tune” with their sense of direction. IN particular rock pigeons were chosen and interbred to create homing pigeons, essentially birds that could find their way “home”. These pigeons would be trained very carefully, gradually being taken further and further from its “nest” before being released and flying home. No other bird has had such close links with man, nor been useful to him in so many ways. Over the centuries the pigeon has served him as symbol, sacrifice, source of food and, not least, as a messenger, both sacred and secular. It has also played a minor role as bait and decoy in the ancient sport of falconry and was massacred by the hundred in the English pigeon-shooting matches of the 19th century. Today, the gentler pursuits of pigeon fancying and racing both have a large following in many parts of the world.

The pigeons used to carry messages are called homing pigeons. These pigeons are particularly good at remembering where they live, and finding their way even when they’ve been transported tremendous distances away from it. If you want to be really sure your messages will get through, you’ll give the pigeons a few trial runs first, to make sure they know the way.

You take the pigeons from their home, put them into cages, and transport them to your location. When you want to send a message, you strap it in a special lightweight case to the pigeon’s leg, and you let the pigeon go. It simply flies home, that’s all.

Pigeons don’t fly anywhere else — only home.

The advantage to a pigeon-borne message is that it’s unlikely to be intercepted, and the pigeon will head for home very fast — faster than a car could ever get there.