Curious facts from the history of pigeon mail. Pigeon Mail: How birds were turned into postmen and sent to serve at the front Pigeon mail lines
Kira Stoletova
Nowadays, pigeons are associated with beauty and are valued for their appearance. But not so long ago, people used them to transfer information to each other. Is it possible to imagine something more romantic than receiving a letter sent with a winged one? The article just talks about what pigeon mail is and how it works.
Story
The Old Testament testifies that pigeon mail already existed then. It was the dove that was released by Noah, and he was sure of its return. Later, this method of transmitting information spread to countries such as China and Greece. And in 1167, the first state pigeon post appeared in Egypt, for which many special towers were ordered to be built. The information was transmitted only in this way. The first breeds of homing pigeons were Bagdety, Skanderun and Quarry.
If we talk about the appearance of such a means of communication in Russia, then the beginning was laid by wars. Princess Olga, wanting to avenge the death of her husband, took tribute from the Drevlyans with doves and sparrows. Opponents happily agreed, and she ordered dry branches to be tied to the paws of birds and set on fire. Knowing that every dove would return home, she was able to destroy an entire settlement of enemies.
More romantic information about the first love messages from the monasteries to their beloved still inspires refined natures to such deeds.
Later, with the help of pigeon mail, communications between states were established. There was no other means of communication over long distances.
Operating principle
So how does pigeon mail work?
The pigeon has an instinct to return home, in addition, the birds are very hardy and can fly hundreds of kilometers. The maximum flight speed is 70 km / h. Even birds are well oriented in the area and easily find their way back to the nest.
The facts indicate the presence of birds:
- sharp vision;
- phenomenal memory, with the help of which the bird remembers the route based on visual perception.
Only certain breeds are used to transmit information. It is easy to distinguish them from others by their size (they are larger than their counterparts) and massive beak. Peculiarities appearance postmen are clearly visible in the photo. The carrier pigeon must be able to learn, hardy and able to fly quickly.
Postal birds are able to fly about 1100 km. Among the many breeds, German, Russian, Belgian and Hungarian are distinguished. Any of them is able to work in pigeon mail for up to 20 years.
How is everything going? The note is corked into a capsule and attached to the leg of the bird. To be wary of predators such as the hawk, two doves are often sent at once with similar messages.
This form of communication existed even before the advent of the telephone and the Internet, but pigeon mail continues to be used today.
Training
It is important to understand that not every pigeon is capable of this. Yes, birds are also all different: there are capable and not very, fast and lazy.
As soon as the chick learns to fly by the third week of life, its training immediately begins. The first days of winged birds are allowed to fly only under the supervision of an experienced adult male, who returns home without any problems. At first, training takes place at a close distance from the habitat.
Feeding immediately after the flight allows to stimulate the subsequent return home. You also need to solve the problem of choosing a partner, otherwise there is a risk that the bird will choose itself and fly away to him.
The British distinguished themselves with an original idea: to send notes with the help of birds during traffic jams.
In general, no matter what progress the modern world would have reached, every woman in her heart will desire beautiful romantic deeds and exquisite gestures of attention. Delivering a love message to so ancient and original way- one of the most spectacular ways to win the heart of your beloved.
Many consider pigeon mail to be an outdated fashion. In vain. The unique instinct of pigeons, referred to in science as "homing", made these birds indispensable for humans in ancient times, and light memory cards turned them into the most effective postmen.
origins
Domestic pigeons are descended from the wild rock (gray) pigeon, which still lives in southern Europe, North Africa and South Asia, nests on rocks and high steep banks. One of the oldest reports of pigeon mail can be found in the Old Testament. Noah releases a dove from the ark and awaits its return. And the dove does return with an olive branch in its beak, a sign that the earth has become habitable again.
Pigeon mail was known in Ancient China, Greece, Egypt. The Roman historian and naturalist Pliny the Elder described how the commandant of the besieged Mutina, Decius Brutus, in 43 BC managed to notify the consul Hirtius about the attack on the city, and he arrived in time with the troops to the rescue. During the Gallic Wars, Caesar exchanged messages with his supporters in Rome using carrier pigeons.
Price Information
As we can see, a special impetus to the development of pigeon mail was given by hostilities, which have been going on without stopping on earth since ancient times. War is a time when the fate of cities, armies, and even entire nations depends on accurate and operational information. The Egyptian Sultan Nur ad-Din paid 1,000 denarii for a pair of good carrier pigeons. He is also considered the creator of the first official postal service - a network of "pigeon towers" throughout Syria and Egypt. The efforts of the sultan paid off: the news of the sudden capture of the port of Damietta by the army of the French king Louis the Saint in 1249 was also transmitted to the Egyptian sultan Najm ad-Din with the help of pigeons. This allowed the Muslims to quickly counterattack and defeat the crusader king.
But pigeons helped not only win wars. The famous businessman Nathan Rothschild owes his huge fortune to pigeons. During the Napoleonic Wars, he sent his agents after the French army, whom he supplied with trained carrier pigeons. While Napoleon was gaining victories, English securities fell sharply in value. But after the defeat of the Napoleonic army at Waterloo, the value of these securities rose sharply. Thanks to the pigeon mail, Rothschild found out about this before other merchants and bought papers at a low price.
Pigeon mail lines
No mail can be official without its main attribute - a postage stamp. The birthplace of the first pigeon post stamp is Great Barrier Island off the coast of New Zealand. Communication with the islands was difficult, it was still impossible to get a telegraph there, radio communication did not exist at that time. Only birds remained, and in 1890 the idea arose to use pigeons for communication. The birds coped with the task so effectively that in 1896 official and regular mail lines opened between Auckland - the largest city in New Zealand - and the islands of the Barrier Reef.
"Homing"
What makes pigeons fly home, despite all the obstacles? In the scientific literature, this ability is called "homing" - the instinct to return home. Even today, scientists cannot fully explain the mechanism that allows pigeons to accurately determine the direction of flight, find the right one from many cities, determine one from thousands of similar houses, and find exactly your own from hundreds of windows. The brain of a pigeon is developed to such an extent that it can be called a natural computer.
This computer is capable of processing and storing huge amounts of information. Pigeons collect it using all their senses. Most of the volume of his skull is occupied by the eyes. They are designed in such a way that they only remember necessary information, cutting off everything superfluous. Pigeons have very sharp eyesight combined with an excellent memory. This allows them to form a route based on visual impressions.
In addition, nature endowed pigeons with a special "internal magnet". It is located at the base of the beak and is called the "magnet receptor system". With its help, a newly hatched chick determines and remembers the level of magnetic tension near its nest. And he will never forget this information.
In addition to the magnetic “navigator”, the pigeon also has an infrasound “sensor” that allows you to pick up vibrations below 10 hertz! In this way, pigeons learn about impending storms, weather changes and wind direction. Modern researchers also suggest that pigeons are able to capture odors (although most birds have a rather weak sense of smell).
And finally, over the long years of living side by side with man, birds have learned to use his roads. Since ancient Roman times, homing pigeons in Italy have flown north and back from Rome along the Via Aurelia, the old coastal route that connected the Eternal City with Gaul (now France) in 241 BC. Italian scientists have found that modern birds also follow this route. The ancient road has become a landmark for thousands of generations of carrier pigeons. How they pass this information on to their descendants remains a mystery.
Training
But you should not expect that, as soon as you stand on the wing, the dove will obediently deliver your messages. Sometimes training takes a lot of time. And of course, among the pigeons there are more responsible and capable of postal business, and there are also lazy people - everything is like people!
As soon as the chicks begin to fly confidently enough, that is, approximately at the third week of their life, they are released into free flight, accompanied by an experienced leader. This ensures that they return home. From the many chicks flying around the nest, an experienced dovecote must choose a few of the most intelligent, best orientated in the area. He will train them further, individually.
The selected pigeons are gradually being taken away from home and released. In the first year, pigeons are not trained at a distance of more than 320 kilometers. Good weather is also needed for the first flights. In order not to discourage the birds from returning, the dovecote must catch them very carefully. And finally, it is always more pleasant to return to where they are waiting for you. Therefore, it is important for carrier pigeons to choose a spouse. Otherwise, they may find a mate elsewhere and leave their nest. But the pigeons “pair”, as the pigeons say, that is, they find a partner for themselves, once and for all their lives! Indeed, marriages that are made in heaven.
Pigeon mail today
Nowadays, there are many reliable and fast means of communication: the Internet, mobile networks, phone lines, air mail, after all. Is there a place for a carrier pigeon in our lives now?
For many people, pigeon mail is a tradition that they want and see no need to part with. One of these traditions has existed since antiquity. The ancient Greeks announced the victories of the Olympians by sending carrier pigeons to major cities. In 1996, following the example of the ancient Greeks, Slovakia sent out its “dovegrams” in honor of the Olympics, held in Atlanta. They were provided with commemorative stamps. In the birthplace of pigeon mail, New Zealand hosts an annual flight of pigeons along the beaten path between Auckland and the islands of the Barrier Reef.
In addition, there are sports competitions, the so-called "Olympiads" of pigeons. The sporting carrier pigeon is a bundle of muscles enclosed in a perfect, streamlined body. He differs from his usual blue-gray fellow, like a professional athlete from an ordinary fan. Every year, the International Pigeon Post Union holds special competitions for birds.
Faster, cheaper, more efficient
But all this does not mean at all that pigeon mail has lost its practical purpose. In some conditions, pigeons can be much more reliable than a telephone cable that can be cut. For example, in the 20th century, during the First and Second World Wars, they were successfully used by both the military and journalists. Pigeons were especially effective at short distances, to transmit urgent news or dispatches.
In civilian life, pigeons will also give odds even to air mail. At the end of the 20th century, an experiment was conducted in the Baltic States: who will deliver the letter to the addressee faster - an airplane, ground mail or a pigeon? To the surprise of the researchers, the pigeon was the first to complete the task, ahead of all modern facilities connections. At present, pigeon mail has been preserved in Switzerland and Cuba, but pigeons are used for practical purposes in other countries. In the Netherlands, pigeons still save lives to this day by delivering vials of donated blood to hospitals. It turned out to be faster and cheaper than delivery by car. In Belgium, pigeons carry secret information on special chips - tiny in size, but capable of containing the entire text of the Bible!
The appearance of modern storage media will not shorten, but, on the contrary, extend the life of pigeon mail. Chips and memory cards weigh much less than previous notes, and they can hold more information than an example. It is not always safe to transmit it over the Internet, and a pigeon can quickly deliver it to the addressee. Unlike a courier, you can always rely on him: he is not subject to the so-called "human factors", he will not be bribed by competitors. The main thing is to feed him properly, and you will have your own little supercomputer, created by nature and polished by man, at your disposal.
Mine ... And we will cut your wings ... "- muttered the haberdasher Bonacieux angrily, scribbling a denunciation of D'Artagnan. However, the use of pigeons in the role postmen began long before the era of the French musketeers ...
The dove, of course, is not a two-legged courier - you cannot send it to any address. But this bird returns to its native notch with maniacal persistence, overcoming very long distances - up to 300 km. And individual, well-trained carrier pigeons are able to find their homeland at a distance of more than a thousand kilometers!
Add to this the absence of obstacles and a solid speed (on average 60-70 km / h), and it becomes clear that in certain situations, when it is especially difficult, pigeons became simply irreplaceable.
"Symbol of peace" in the war
Broadcast mail messages
pigeons was especially popular during the sieges of cities, when a rare daredevil managed to overcome the ring of enemy encirclement.
Pigeons were sent by the Roman Decimus Brutus during the siege of Mutina by Anthony (43 BC), and by the Dutch, besieged by the Spaniards, in the cities of Haarlem and Leiden (1570s).
But the first, seriously organized and regular, arose in 1870-71 during the Franco-Prussian War, when the Germans encircled Paris. The besieged citizens first sent messages with the help of balloons. However, the balloons were uncontrollable - it was possible to send them outside the city, but you definitely couldn’t send them back to Paris.
It was then that the idea came to involve carrier pigeons. They were put in cages and sent in balloons through the chain of enemy troops, so that they would then return with messages in return. Although only 57 out of 363 pigeons returned the first time, the idea was worth it.
A pigeon is not a horse, so pigeon letters were written on very thin tissue paper, placed in a bag, which was attached to the bird's back, tail or foot. Then they came up with a more economical way ...
People brought letters to a special "pigeon" post office. There, the texts were typed in small typographic type, typeset like a newspaper sheet, and then photographed with a large reduction. As a result, many messages fit on a thin microfilm, which was placed in a capsule and attached to the pigeons. At the place of receipt, the films were projected onto a screen, and special officials copied the texts of the messages.
Now one dove at a time could deliver information with a capacity of 70 thousand words and bring 35 thousand francs to the state treasury from grateful mail clients.
They say that the Germans even tried to fight the feathered postmen with the help of hawks, but without much success.
Not without pigeons and on the fields of two world wars. They were especially actively used in the First World War. There were even whole companies pigeon mail, and for greater mobility, mobile dovecotes were used. Accordingly, pigeons that were accustomed to one dovecote were transported to another, with which they were going to keep in touch. Bearing in mind that war is war, the same dispatch was sent with three birds at once for reliability.
Of course, wire and radio communications gradually replaced postman pigeons, but the birds continued to be used during the Second World War. Soviet researchers calculated that in the period 1941-45. about 15 thousand pigeongrams were sent.
The most distinguished birds military postmen often rewarded. So, the Cher Ami pigeon was awarded the French Military Cross in 1918, and the Commando pigeons and soldier Joe in 1945 were awarded the British Deakin medal. The most fortunate pigeon numbered "888", which was given the rank of colonel in the British Army, and after death was buried with honors.
In 2005, they even shot the cartoon "Feathered Special Forces" about pigeons - participants in the Second World War.
Doves and Rothschilds
Important advantages pigeon mail there was secrecy and - most importantly - the efficiency of information. Even the ancient Greeks sent out pigeons with lists of the names of the winners of the Olympic Games.
But the most striking example is the story of the famous financial empire of the Rothschilds. According to legend, thanks to carrier pigeon, Nathan Rothschild was the first in Britain to learn of the victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. This allowed him to conduct a successful operation with French securities and earn a fabulous fortune.
The dove turned out to be a good helper for reporters as well. Until radio was invented, newsrooms received information about sailing regattas with the help of pigeons, which were previously placed in dovecotes on yachts.
However, Reuters reporters practiced this method of transmitting urgent information in 1962, so that correspondents would not waste time standing idle in traffic jams.
It has not always served legitimate and plausible purposes. So in the time of Napoleon, when there was a customs war between England and France, pigeons often helped smugglers to transfer precious stones from the island to the continent. And even now, in areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, these birds are used as ... drug couriers delivering heroin.
Joke:
“-“ And they personally asked me to deliver it, ”said the carrier pigeon and shat on the head of the recipient of the letter.”
Communication without borders
There were times when carrier pigeons were the only way to deliver messages. For example, in distant sea voyages. Even the ancient Egyptians took with them carrier pigeons during sea voyages, and then it became a common practice among other sailors.
It was the dove that brought the latest news from the Swedish Arctic explorer Solomon Andre. In 1897, together with two companions, Andre took off in a balloon from Svalbard, wanting to reach the North Pole. Soon an encouraging pigeon message came - they say, everything is fine - and after that there was neither a rumor nor a spirit about the expedition for 33 years ... Until the remains of the brave polar explorers were found on one of the northern islands.
Speaking of islands...
In the second half of the 19th century, when air mail not yet, and the steamers were moving slowly, the inhabitants of the islands remembered the pigeons. In particular, a similar thought was visited by a man named Fricker - a resident of the island of Great Barbier. Dissatisfied with what mail steamer between the island and the New Zealand port of Auckland ran only once a week, he decided in 1898 to establish a regular pigeon mail.
As a result, letters began to be delivered daily. The fastest pigeon with the nickname Velocity could cover the distance between Great Barbier and New Zealand (90 km) in just 50 minutes. The idea was so successful that even special forms and triangular stamps were issued - first postage stamps for dovegram.
Joke:
“- You know, I had a carrier pigeon, but died in the line of duty ...
- Like this? Got shot?
- Well no! They hit me at the post office when they put the stamp ... ".
So in critical circumstances it can still come in handy. For example, today in remote and hard-to-reach areas of England, pigeons are used to take blood samples to hospitals for analysis.
pigeons today bad reputation. Many perceive them as stupid birds that shit on the streets and spread diseases. Some call them "winged rats". Although there is no reason for such an attitude, especially since pigeons are incredibly smart creatures.
Ordinary city pigeons are well oriented in space and will always find their way home. Firstly, pigeons remember the features of the landscape on their way; secondly, they remember smells; thirdly, they have a "built-in compass" with which they navigate by the sun. If one of these features fails, the bird cannot find its way home. Banal artificial street lighting can prevent the pigeon from returning home.
Researchers from the University of Oxford equipped birds with a navigation system as part of an experiment. GPS system to track their route during the flight. During their journey, the two pigeons had the choice of returning home individually or as a pair. The birds found a compromise and chose something in between - they went along general route close to their separate routes leading home. The fact is that pigeons are able to obey the leader and follow him, but if the routes of the pigeons are completely different or directed in different directions, then a compromise is not possible. It should be noted that pigeons in a flock overcome the route much more efficiently than alone.
With one more interesting fact researchers encountered a few years ago when they realized that pigeons can distinguish people's faces. During the experiment, two researchers, approximately the same in size and type, treated the pigeons differently: one was kind, and the other chased them around the cage while feeding. Through certain time the researchers stopped appearing in front of the pigeons, but when they reappeared, the birds recognized them and began to shun the one who had behaved aggressively in the past, despite the fact that he stood still.
Among the little-known facts about pigeons, the ability of birds to remember certain information for a long time should be highlighted. Another experiment, conducted at the Mediterranean Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, aimed to measure the memory properties of pigeons compared to baboons. Pigeons and baboons were often shown a picture and color, and the animals had to remember the associations. Pigeons managed to remember from 800 to 1200 associations. Although they lost in the competition to baboons, this is a good result.
Recently, research has shown that pigeons know abstract mathematics. They tend to calculate their behavior, which was previously considered the prerogative of only primates. During the experiment, three sets of items were shown to three pigeons on a screen. One set had one item, the second had two, and the third had three. All objects differed in color, shape and size. Pigeons were taught to peck on the screen, first a set with one object, then with two, and later with three. When they did exactly what they were asked to do, the pigeons were shown sets containing one to nine items, respectively. As a result, the pigeons were able to distinguish sets with one, two, and three objects, although they were not taught that there could be more than three objects. This experiment showed that pigeons are able to understand the nature of numbers and that they are not alien to cause and effect relationships.
Many facts about the role of pigeons in human history are missing from textbooks. But everyone is well aware that people have been using pigeon mail since time immemorial. Therefore, during the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, the defenders of the city used this talent of pigeons to transmit messages, which was faster than the telegraph. For obvious reasons, less than 10% of birds survived the hostilities of the First World War. Many of the survivors were awarded Maria Deakin medals for their invaluable services.
4. Pigeons have superstitious behavior
In 1947, Skinner published the results of an experiment in which pigeons with a small weight were placed in a cage. They were fed regularly at regular intervals. Over time, 6 out of 8 pigeons showed interesting behavior. One of the birds regularly repeated the same movement - stuck its head into the corner of the cage, the other continuously moved around the cage in a circle. The fact is that the birds decided that they were fed only thanks to their strange behavior.
3. Relatives of the Dodo bird
DNA analysis of pigeons showed similarities with the extinct dodo bird. relative modern pigeon is also a multi-colored Nicobar pigeon that lives in southeast Asia and the Nicobar Islands. Prior to this scientific discovery, it was difficult to determine which family the extinct dodo bird belonged to, as it was characterized by unique external physical features.
2. Pigeons can be of different colors
It seems to many that pigeons are mostly medium-sized, dark gray in color and live on the streets of the city. Most of them, yes, but this is only one of the species. Pigeons live all over the world and many of them look very beautiful. For example, there are fruit doves that surprise with their bright green, red and yellow hues.
1. Pigeons are several thousand years old
Pigeons can be called human companions. The first documentary mention of them appeared more than 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia. In Egypt, the remains of pigeons were found in ancient human burials. There have been cases in history when people treated pigeons as sacred birds. They were worshiped, they were exalted. Despite the fact that some species of pigeons have disappeared and become rare, they have coexisted with people for thousands of years.
