Curious facts from the history of pigeon mail. Carrier pigeons: how they look, how they find their way to the addressee The name of the carrier pigeon in a modern manner

In the world of computers and the Internet, a dove with a letter seems somehow from fairy tales or history. But several decades ago, serious hopes were placed on him, and he justified them. In wartime, birds helped people deliver messages. And if you delve into ancient times, then pigeon mail was used as early as 45 BC. In Egypt in the 12th century, this method of communication reached state proportions. Today, these birds continue to be trained, but this is already a sporting interest.

Historical facts

Most often, carrier pigeon flights were limited to delivering messages during hostilities. And they, in turn, occurred at all times. A lot depended on the speed of delivered messages - the fate of people, cities and countries.

For example, in 1249, the news of the capture of the port, delivered by a carrier pigeon, helped Egypt win the battle with the army of the French king. History also informs about such a fact as the contribution of carrier pigeons to improving welfare. This is the case when the birds delivered a message to the merchant Rothschild in time that the securities had fallen in price. Everything happened during the Napoleonic battles.

Carrier pigeons were actively used in 1870-71. It was the time of the Franco-Prussian War. When Paris was under siege, mail was prepared in the city of Tours, which was sent by air with the help of birds. They covered 220 km in about 4 hours, but since the text had to be encoded and decoded, it took all day. Such a result in terms of speed was considered and is considered very good.

And in the not very distant 1929, an interesting post office building was built in the city of Kharkov, on which special pigeon enclosures can still be seen to this day. This means that the postal birds had significant place and were popular in their field. At that time, such a connection worked and was quite promising.

Message stations

In Europe in the XIX-XX centuries, special pigeon stations were organized. It is not difficult to understand how carrier pigeons know where to fly. If the bird is simply released from the nest, then, of course, it will not find the addressee. But these birds perfectly remember the place where their own house or dovecote is located.

Now it becomes clear how the station works pigeon mail. There were kept their own pigeons and those that were brought from other stations. At the right time, they were sent to their “homeland” with a letter. Periodically, local birds were taken to other points, from where they were supposed to return to their native "nest" with a message.

This happened just like that, because the birds are perfectly oriented and remember the area where the dovecote is located. They will certainly return home.

There is a version that pigeons can use the roads. Even in ancient Rome, there was a route from Italy to Gaul, which was followed by birds from pigeon mail. The current generation still flies this way, although it is not known how this information was inherited.

Knowing the principle of operation of the stations, it becomes clear how carrier pigeons find their way to the addressee, because the “addressee” is their home, from where people take them away by various means of transport, including balloons.

Letters with classified information

When pigeon mail was actively used by a person, the letters were coded. Information in the form of text was placed on a narrow strip of paper. If there were military operations, encryption was a prerequisite. The content of such a message should not have been read by the enemy side if a dove got there. The recipient had to decode the message.

The letter was folded and put into a special metal tube, which was attached to a pigeon's foot. In Russia, they used the hollow part of the pen, where the message was placed. It was attached to the tail feathers.

If we return to the events of the Franco-Prussian war, then both official and personal messages were transmitted with the help of carrier pigeons. The total number of letters is over 1 million during the 140 days of the siege of Paris. 73 postal birds coped with these tasks. They were delivered to the city of Tours with the help of balloons.

Any method of transmitting letters has its own obstacles, and in this case, the Germans wanted to get the information that they transmitted through pigeons. In this regard, hawks were launched, which were supposed to catch air mail carriers, but it was unrealistic to cope with such a task, and birds with letters still flew to the addressees.

Air orientation

After takeoff, the speed of carrier pigeons can reach 100 km/h, and the average is 80 km/h. They have a good ability to navigate in space. Birds are able to return to their nest, even if it is 1000 km away. Of course, they are trained and trained. Thanks to this, the postmen become more resilient and are able to stay in flight for 12 hours in a row.

Pigeons can climb up to 400 m. The flight takes place during the daytime, and at night they rest.

The principle of how pigeons find their way home has not yet been fully understood, but science uses such a term as homing. This means that there is an instinct to return to their native lands. However, it is not entirely clear how birds can determine where to fly, how they are able to find the right house when there are many identical buildings around.

There is evidence that the brain of pigeons is much more developed than it seems at first glance. The bird orientates due to the fact that it remembers the route, removing all extra information. This is due to sharp vision and the involvement of all the senses.

It cannot be said that pigeons have a special magnetic receptor system in the beak area. It helps the hatched chicks to remember the level of magnetic intensity at their nest. This is forever remembered. There is also another ability to capture fluctuations below 10 Hz. This means that the birds are aware of all the changes in the weather.

Types of air mail carriers

Among all breeds of pigeons, there is no special postal breed. Trained birds are those who have good flying qualities. In general, the physique of birds should be harmonious, strong, with well-developed muscles. The plumage is dense, such that it allows the development of good aerodynamic properties. At the same time, the tail is long and narrow, and the legs are not feathered. Color does not play a special role. Endurance, flight speed and homing are important.

We talk about this in detail in the article. And now we will highlight only a few breeds that are able to learn postal business:

• English pigeons are very fast and have been used as postmen for several centuries;
• the Belgian is no less popular, but may differ in physique from the English in a more rounded body shape;
• German pigeons are also quite fast and are descendants of English and Dutch pigeons;
• Russian postal pigeons are considered elected among sports pigeons and win prizes in competitions;
• Czech birds show themselves well at short distances.

Considering that in the modern world, letters can be delivered absolutely different ways, carrier pigeons are most often used for competitions. At the same time, the flight speed, time and ability to find the end point of the route are evaluated.

Ability Development

Although carrier pigeons have this name, they do not deliver messages without some training. Birds are trained very simply, but among them both responsible individuals and lazy ones can come across.

When the chick has learned to fly and confidently stay in the air, it is released into the sky, but accompanied by an experienced adult bird that will teach you how to return home. In this case, the trainer must determine the young individuals that are the most intelligent. This is done when birds flutter near their native nest. Then they are dealt with individually.

There is another idea that experienced pigeon breeders use. For a bird to return home, it needs a mate. This species of birds is considered family, monogamous and is very kind to a partner. So, if one family member is taken away from the dovecote, he will definitely return to the one who is waiting.

If you liked the article, please like it.

Write comments about carrier pigeons and their athletic abilities.

You may also be interested

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?
- Not really! 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.

Not every pigeon can become a postal pigeon. Although there is no specific breed of such pigeons, breeders diligently monitor the pedigree of birds, proper nutrition, thorough care and, of course, regular training, which begins as soon as the pigeon has full plumage, that is, about six weeks old. For the first month and a half, the bird is taught to fly around its native dovecote, and only then they begin to gradually take it away from the nest for a certain distance (during the first year - about 50-75 km) and teach it to return. In the second year of training, the winged postman is able to fly several hundred kilometers, in any weather and at different times of the year.

"Specifications"

Out of 20 years of their life, carrier pigeons give service on average about 15 years. The speeds they are able to develop and the distances they cover in their travels are amazing. These birds fly on average at an altitude of 100-150 meters (depending on the weather) at a speed of 50-70 km per hour, traveling hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers. On themselves, they are able to carry loads the size of a third of their own weight, namely, about 80-90 grams.

Winged photojournalists

At the beginning of the 20th century, German pharmacist Julius Neubronner invented pigeon aerial photography. One day, when a pigeon he had sent to deliver medicines returned after a very long time and full, the apothecary got the idea to follow the bird by attaching a small camera to it, which would automatically take pictures at regular intervals. As a result, Neubronner learned that his pigeon was in the care of the chef of a German restaurant. So the pharmacist became the inventor of pigeon photography.

Is the pigeon connection alive?

Most pigeon mail services were disbanded after World War II, but in some countries they have survived and are still in operation. In India, for example, fly mail is used on election days to quickly deliver information to hard-to-reach areas. In Switzerland, birds help deliver emergency messages. In the English city of Plymouth, pigeons transport blood samples from hospitals to research laboratories. In New Zealand, the birthplace of pigeon mail, there is an annual "Stamp Week" during which participants (stamp collectors) use the services of winged postmen.

Why do they always come back?

Scientists have concluded that pigeons, like many other birds or animals, have a desire to return home, to their native nest or dovecote. This is due to animal instincts: the desire for their couple (male - to the female, females - to the male), as well as the "parental" instinct - the desire to feed and protect their chicks.

How birds find their way home

It is still not known exactly how pigeons navigate in space and find their way home in absolutely any conditions. A lot of research has been done: birds were taken to places completely unfamiliar to them, thousands of kilometers away, they tried to confuse, confuse, and even circled them along the way on a kind of carousel and put them to sleep - they invariably returned to their native nest. As a result, there are several versions of how birds manage to get on the right track. There is a hypothesis that they determine the desired direction by the position of the sun and the location of the stars. Another opinion says that infrasound helps birds navigate - sound vibrations with a frequency of less than 10 Hz (that is, not audible to a person who recognizes a frequency in the range of 16 Hz), which propagate in the atmosphere over long distances. The third version allows pigeons to have an internal "compass", which allows them to perceive the magnetic field lines of the Earth and use them to find the right path.

Soldier Pigeons and Spy Pigeons

During the First World War, pigeon mail was widely used by all warring countries. In some of them, it was also used on warships. Particularly distinguished birds for military merit were awarded orders and medals.

Carrier pigeon No. 888 was promoted to the rank of colonel. After his death, he was buried with all the honors due to the funeral of high-ranking military men.

Pigeon Cher Ami (from the French "Cher Ami" - Dear Friend) during the battle of Verdun during the First World War, helped save the "Missing Battalion" of the 77th division, which was surrounded: a few hours after he delivered the message about it battalion (with a wound in the chest, bloodshot eyes and a shot paw), 194 people were saved. The bird received the gold medal of the American Carrier Pigeon Society and the French Military Cross.

A British pigeon named Commando, as part of the National Pigeon Service, worked for British intelligence agents behind the front line: he made three flights to the territory of Nazi-occupied France with the most important intelligence information, for which at the end of the war he was awarded the Maria Deakin medal (the highest British military award for animals).

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. during the siege of Paris (for four months), the French managed to transmit about 150 thousand both military and civilian private messages with the help of pigeons. Opponents tried to fight winged spies: they were fired upon and even sent to hunt them with tame hawks and falcons.

During the Great Patriotic War in the occupied territories, the German command considered all pigeons as potential "spies": they were confiscated from the local population and destroyed.

Pigeons-record holders

In 2013, a Chinese billionaire acquired a Dutch pigeon with outstanding abilities: the feathered one covered a distance of 2,700 km (slightly less than the journey from Moscow to Paris) in just 18 days.

. French Prince Friedrich Karl in 1871 he gave his mother a dove, which in 1875, breaking free, returned to his dovecote in Paris.

In 2010, an experiment was conducted in England, as a result of which carrier pigeons delivered flash cards 193 km faster than Internet users downloaded a 300 MB video (at a speed of less than 2 Mbps): the birds completed the task in 1 hour 15 minutes, and the video at this point was loaded by 24%.

There are known cases of pigeons flying from Rome to Brussels for 1100 km of air distance through the Alps.

Some birds are capable of reaching speeds of up to 100 km/h (for comparison: the speed of an express passenger train is from 50 to 90 km/h).

During the Civil War, the guards, retreating from Sevastopol, took several carrier pigeons to a foreign land. The released birds gradually returned to the Crimea one after another, having covered more than 2,000 kilometers by air.

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 a 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 postal lines 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 from Rome north and back 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.

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.

Medical courier. In Plymouth, the birds delivered blood to a laboratory located far from the hospital. This method turned out to be faster than conventional transport.

The British distinguished themselves with an original idea: to send notes with the help of birds during traffic jams.

In general, what progress would not have reached modern world, 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.