Many people consider pigeon mail to be an outdated fashion. In vain. The unique instinct of pigeons, scientifically called “homing,” made these birds indispensable for humans back in ancient times, and lightweight memory cards turned them into the most effective postmen.
Origins
Domestic pigeons descended from the wild rock (rock) pigeon, which still lives in southern Europe, North Africa and South Asia, nesting on rocks and high steep banks. One of the most ancient messages about pigeon mail can be found in the Old Testament. Noah releases a dove from the ark and awaits its return. And the dove actually returns with an olive branch in its beak - a sign that the earth has again become habitable.
Pigeon mail was known in Ancient China, Greece, and 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 troops to the rescue. During the Gallic War, Caesar exchanged messages with his supporters in Rome using carrier pigeons.
Price information
As we see, a special impetus for the development of pigeon mail was given by military actions that have been ongoing on earth since ancient times. War is a time when the fate of cities, armies, and even entire nations depends on accurate and timely information. The Egyptian Sultan Nur ad-Din paid 1000 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 Sultan's efforts bore fruit: the news of the sudden capture of the port of Damietta by the army of the French king Louis the Saint in 1249 was transmitted to the Egyptian Sultan Najm ad-Din also 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 enormous 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 price. But after the defeat of Napoleonic army at Waterloo, the value of these securities increased sharply. Thanks to pigeon mail, Rothschild found out about this before other merchants and bought the papers at a low price.
Pigeon postal lines
No mail can be official without its main attribute - postage stamp. The birthplace of the first pigeon post stamp is considered to be Great Barrier Island off the coast of New Zealand. Communication with the islands was difficult; it was still impossible to carry a telegraph there; radio communications did not exist at that time. Only birds remained, and in 1890 the idea arose of using pigeons for communication. The birds coped with the task so effectively that in 1896 official and regular postal lines opened between Auckland - New Zealand's largest city - and the Barrier Reef islands.
"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, identify one from thousands of similar houses, and find exactly their own from hundreds of windows. The pigeon's brain 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 its skull is occupied by the eyes. They are designed in such a way that they remember only the necessary information, cutting off everything unnecessary. Pigeons have very sharp eyesight combined with excellent memory. This allows them to formulate a route based on visual impressions.
In addition, nature has endowed pigeons with a special “inner magnet”. It is located at the base of the beak and is called the “magnetic receptor system.” With its help, a newly hatched chick determines and remembers the level of magnetic intensity near its nest. And he will never forget this information.
In addition to the magnetic “navigator,” the pigeon also has an infrasonic “sensor” that allows it to detect 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 detect odors (although most birds have a rather weak sense of smell).
And finally, over many years of living side by side with humans, 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 (present-day France) in 241 BC. Italian scientists have discovered that modern birds also follow this route. The ancient road became 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 the pigeon takes wing, it will obediently deliver your messages. Sometimes training takes quite a lot of time. And of course, among the pigeons there are those who are more responsible and capable of postal work, and there are also lazy ones - just like with people!
As soon as the chicks begin to fly confidently enough, that is, around the third week of their life, they are released into free flight, accompanied by an experienced leader. This will ensure that they return home. From the many chicks flying around the nest, an experienced pigeon keeper must choose several of the smartest ones, those who best navigate the terrain. He will train them further, individually.
The selected pigeons begin to be gradually taken away from the house and released. In the first year, pigeons are not trained at distances greater than 320 kilometers. For the first flights you also need good weather. In order not to discourage the birds from returning, the pigeon keeper must catch them very carefully. And finally, it’s always more pleasant to return to where you are expected. Therefore, it is important for carrier pigeons to choose a spouse. Otherwise, they can find a mate elsewhere and abandon their native nest. But pigeons “mate,” as pigeon keepers say, that is, they find a partner, once and for life! These are truly marriages made in heaven.
Pigeon mail today
Nowadays there are many reliable and fast means of communication: the Internet, mobile networks, telephone lines, airmail, after all. Is there still a place for the carrier pigeon in our lives now?
For many people, pigeon mail is a tradition that they want and do not see the need to part with. One of these traditions has existed since ancient times. The ancient Greeks announced the victories of the Olympians by sending carrier pigeons to large cities. In 1996, following the ancient example of the Greeks, Slovakia sent out its “pigeongrams” in honor of the Olympics held in Atlanta. They were equipped with commemorative stamps. In the homeland of pigeon mail, New Zealand, pigeon flights are held annually along a well-trodden route between Auckland and the Barrier Reef islands.
In addition, there are sporting competitions, the so-called “Olympics” of pigeons. The sporting homing pigeon is a bundle of muscles encased in a perfect, streamlined body. He differs from his usual gray brother, 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 that pigeon mail has lost its practical purpose. In some conditions, pigeons can be much more reliable than a telephone cable, which 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 over short distances, for transmitting urgent news or dispatches.
In peaceful life, pigeons will also outperform even airmail. At the end of the 20th century, an experiment was conducted in the Baltic states: who will deliver a letter to the recipient faster - an airplane, land mail or a pigeon? To the surprise of the researchers, the pigeon was the first to complete the task, ahead of all modern means of communication. Currently, pigeon post has been preserved in Switzerland and Cuba, but pigeons are used for practical purposes in other countries. In Holland, pigeons still save lives to this day - they deliver test tubes 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 emergence of modern information carriers will not shorten, but, on the contrary, extend the life of pigeon mail. Chips and memory cards weigh much less than previous notes, and contain much more information. Transmitting it over the Internet is not always safe, but a pigeon can quickly deliver it to the recipient. You can always rely on him, unlike a courier: he is not subject to so-called “human factors”, he will not be bribed by competitors. The main thing is to feed it properly, and you will have at your disposal your own little supercomputer, created by nature and polished by man.
Pigeon mail today seems hopelessly outdated. But this is only at first glance. An experiment that took place in 1996 in the Baltic states showed that pigeons can still deliver correspondence much faster than ground and air mail. Therefore, this type of communication is still used in Switzerland, Cuba and a number of other countries.
Home!
The mechanism that helps pigeons find the right city, building, and even window is not fully understood. For now, scientists call it the instinct of returning home - homing. And the pigeon brain itself is a natural computer. As a joke, of course. But, as you know, there is some truth in every joke: the brain of this small bird is unusually developed, because pigeons not only know how to collect information through the senses, but are also able to process and store it - in quite large volumes.
The eyes play a major role in collecting information.
Somehow, pigeons are able to filter out everything unnecessary and remember only what can be useful to them. Therefore, visual impressions are the most important in a bird navigator.
In addition, pigeons navigate by the sun, however, this mechanism does not work at night: lit lanterns throw the bird off course...
Some researchers believe that pigeons, unlike other birds, pick up odors, thanks to which a “map of aromas” is formed in their brain - both domestic and those brought by the wind. Being away from their habitat, they simply “sniff” the air and thus determine in which direction to fly.
However, an experiment conducted by a group of German scientists in 2011 showed that smells are still not a sufficient guide for pigeons. Many birds taken to mountainous areas often stopped on their way back, as if looking for Additional information. Moreover, those experimental subjects whose right nostril was previously closed by the researchers had difficulty returning. The fact is that it is there that pigeons have a “magnetic receptor” system, which allows even tiny chicks to remember the level of magnetic intensity of the Earth near their nest. Moreover, this information is stored in the bird’s head forever.
In 2013, scientists were able to find out that the pigeon’s ear perceives infrasound arising from the movement of the earth’s crust. At the same time, each place for a bird sounds differently. At this sound she flies towards the house.
It is no less surprising that pigeons, which have lived next to people since ancient times, have learned to “use” their roads! In 241 BC. There was a coastal route between Rome and Gaul, along which pigeon mail followed. So, modern pigeons continue to fly along the same route, although there has been no road there for a long time. Therefore, information about air routes is passed on from generation to generation by pigeons. But it has not yet been possible to find out exactly how.
Letters from the past
They knew how to send letters back in the countries of the Ancient World. In the notes of Pliny the Elder you can find information about how in 43 BC. the city of Mutina was besieged and its commandant Brutus notified the consul Hirtius about it via pigeon mail. And he quickly sent help to the besieged.
Most often, “winged dispatches” fluttered in wartime, when the fate of entire nations depended on the speed of mail delivery. Thus, in 1249, carrier pigeons helped the Egyptian Sultan Nur ad-Din deliver the news to Sultan Najm ad-Din on time that the port of Damietta had been captured by the French. The sultans joined forces and liberated the territory. Later Nur ad-Din organized a network of pigeon towers throughout the country. Then trained birds cost fabulous money - a thousand denarii per pair.
In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, communication between besieged Paris and the city of Tours was carried out through pigeon mail. These were messages, greatly reduced, captured on film. Each pigeon carried up to 20 such messages. Of course, the Germans knew about this. At first they fired at the feathered postmen, and then they began to set falcons on them. But the resourceful French came up with the idea of attaching whistles to the tails of pigeons, which during the flight scared away predators with their nasty sound.
In 1815, carrier pigeons served Jacob and Nathan Rothschild well. When Napoleon returned to power, the stock exchanges were in turmoil. We were waiting to see how the Battle of Waterloo would end. In the French army, the Rothschilds had their own agents who had carrier pigeons. While Napoleon was on his way to victory, British shares fell in price, and after the French were defeated, their value increased sharply. Pigeon mail promptly delivered reports on the progress of the battle to the Rothschilds. Thanks to this, they learned about the outcome of the battle before others and bought shares at the lowest price. And from this they made a substantial capital.
Russian experience
According to written sources, the founder of pigeon mail in Russia in 1854 was Prince Golitsyn, who thus established communication between his Moscow home and his estate, located 90 miles away. However, it is impossible to say that no one has thought of this before. Most likely, some kind of personal correspondence had long been transmitted with the pigeons, which needed to be kept secret.
Another Russian who used pigeons to deliver mail was in 1873 the staff captain, adjutant of the Pechersk fortress Arendt. He began training homing birds and managed to achieve amazing results: pigeons could stay in the air for 12 hours at a time and “accelerate” up to 100 km/h. Arendt's successes in 1891 became the impetus for the creation of a pigeon communication line between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and later in other directions. But there is no limit to perfection. Soon a new record was set. The trained birds of pigeon breeder Domashkev were able to cover more than 500 km at a speed of 86 km/h in 6 hours.
In 1890, the “Russian Society of Pigeon Sports” appeared in Russia. It published its own magazine and regularly held pigeon flight distance competitions. After the revolution, business began to decline and began to revive only after 1925. And in 1929, pigeons were called up for public service. Then the order “On the adoption of the pigeon communication system into the country’s arsenal” was approved, within the framework of which manuals for combat training of military pigeon breeding units were developed.
Winged report
The 20th century in human history turned out to be the bloodiest. One after another, two wars swept across the world. And both pigeons found work. Thus, during the First World War, birds were first used for espionage purposes. Small cameras were attached to the pigeons’ necks and they were sent “on a mission”: to film enemy units. There was also a pigeon post service. There is a known case when a bird delivered an important message to the addressee on time and thereby saved a British army unit from death. As a token of gratitude, the pigeon was awarded the rank of colonel in the British Army. He went through the entire war in this rank, and when his time came, he was interred with all the honors due to a colonel.
During World War II, carrier pigeons delivered about 15 thousand letters, 98% of which reached their recipients. True, in the USSR, pigeons that belonged to the civilian population were equated to an illegal means of communication, and therefore were subject to destruction. Failure to comply with this order was punishable under the laws of war... And on both sides! After all, the Germans who found themselves in the occupied territories were afraid that Soviet citizens would maintain contact with the partisans using pigeons.
The ability of pigeons to navigate in space, as well as to find their way to their permanent place of residence from anywhere in the world, is truly amazing. A well-trained postal bird is able to accurately determine the direction and choose the right way even if you inject her with a large dose of anesthesia and in this state take her several thousand kilometers from her home. People were able to adapt such unique skills to their needs very usefully.
The first postal dovecote in Russia
To this day, no reliable information has been preserved about the exact time when carrier pigeons began to spread in Russia. The earliest materials that shed light on the creation of the official pigeon post date back to 1854. They tell the story of Prince Golitsyn's attempts to create bird routes for mail delivery. In particular, to establish quick communication between his estate in Moscow and the estate in the village of Sima, which was located 90 miles away.Homing pigeons in a portable cage.
No other sources containing earlier references to the official creation of pigeon mail in Russia have been found. From this we can conclude that until the 18th century, pigeons were used mainly for personal purposes. Namely, for the transmission of love notes and secret telegrams, which they tried to keep secret. Development at the state level, although successful, began much later.
In the next few decades, after the successful experience of Prince Golitsyn, the popularity of pigeon breeding rapidly gained momentum. The result was the creation in 1890 of the “Kyiv Society of Pigeon Sports”. After a short period of time, it was renamed the “Russian Society of Pigeon Sports”.
The organization quickly gained wide popularity. Until 1905, under her leadership, a special magazine “Bulletin of Pigeon Sports” was published and short and long distance competitions were regularly held. With the beginning of the well-known events of the October Revolution, work with pigeons gradually fell into decline and more or less began to recover only after 1925.
The first Russian military dovecotes
The idea of using smart birds to help Russian soldiers first came to the mind of Staff Captain Arendt in 1873. The man served in the Pechersk fortress as a parade ground adjutant and at the same time was training pigeons, which he bought from city fanciers or ordered from abroad.Soldiers release pigeons from a portable cage.
The birds' training began early. From about three months they were accustomed to portable cages and regularly taken further and further from home, developing the ability to navigate. With proper persistence, the birds quickly improved their flight skills and endurance, allowing the best of them to fly for 12 hours without a break. The average speed was from 80 to 100 km.
The idea was successful, and in 1891 official pigeon communication lines began to be established throughout the country. The first of them ran between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Others connected a number of large stations on the western and southern borders.
Pigeons were equipped with cameras for aerial photography (1907).
Under General M.I. In Dragomirov, pigeon sport gained particular popularity. He repeatedly initiated competitions for winged postmen, trying to determine the fastest breed. The first bird to set a record for flight distance and speed was the speckled homing pigeon of the then famous Moscow pigeon breeder Domashkev. He managed to cover a distance of 537 km in six hours, developing average speed at 86 km/h.
“Military pigeon conscription in the USSR”
Contrary to all forecasts, modern means of communication have not been able to relegate pigeon mail to other relics of the past. Moreover, during the Great Patriotic War in the USSR, birds were actively used in reconnaissance operations and for the delivery of important dispatches until 1945.Carrier pigeons were actively used in the Great Patriotic War.
The first prerequisites for using carrier pigeons in the public service appeared much earlier - in 1928. Even then, at a meeting of the Council of Labor and Defense, a draft on “military pigeon conscription” was put to a vote. In 1929, it was approved by the order “On the adoption of the pigeon communication system into the country’s arsenal,” and a year later they developed the first of its kind combat training manual for military pigeon breeding units.
With the outbreak of hostilities, control over feathered postmen became much tighter. According to government orders, all pigeons were to be confiscated and destroyed from the population as an illegal means of communication. Those who refused to carry out the order were tried under martial law. It should be noted that concealment carried a double threat. During the German occupation, the discovery of birds threatened immediate execution, as the Germans were afraid that the birds would be used in partisan warfare.
What is the instinct to return home based on?
Upon closer examination, the ability of pigeons to navigate in space completely refutes the popular belief that birds are exceptionally stupid. Their brains are so well developed that they are capable of processing many different operations simultaneously. Pigeons use various information to determine their location relative to their home: geomagnetic landmarks, infrasounds, landscape features. In recent years, hypotheses have been put forward about the acute sense of smell of these birds, although previously such a version was refuted.A bus converted into a dovecote, which in the First world war used in France and Belgium.
The structure of pigeon eyes is unique. They occupy a large area inside the skull and give the bird impressively sharp vision. A striking individual feature, alien to the human body, is selective focusing. Pigeons are able to “filter” the visuals received from the surrounding space, choosing only what is important to them at that moment and ignoring the rest. To determine the time of day, they do not need to open their eyes at all - they feel the difference between light and darkness with their skin.
Excellent memory and intelligence complement the sharp visual reactions of carrier pigeons, which allows them to form complex trajectories of movement and skillfully operate with them.
Kira Stoletova
Nowadays, pigeons are associated with beauty and are valued for their appearance. But not so long ago, people used them to transmit information to each other. Can you imagine anything 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 Noah released, and he was confident 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 it was ordered to build many special towers. This is the only way information was transmitted. The first breeds of homing pigeons were Bagdets, Skanderuns and Carriers.
If we talk about the emergence of such a means of communication in Russia, then the beginning was made by wars. Princess Olga, wanting to avenge the death of her husband, took tribute from the Drevlyans in pigeons and sparrows. The opponents happily agreed, and she ordered that dry branches be tied to the paws of the 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 letters from monasteries to their lovers still inspires refined natures to such actions.
Later, with the help of pigeon mail, communication between states was established. There was no other means of communication over long distances.
Operating principle
So how does pigeon post work?
The pigeon has the instinct to return home, in addition, the birds are very hardy and can fly hundreds of kilometers. Maximum speed flight - 70 km/h. The birds also have excellent knowledge of the terrain and easily find their way back to the nest.
Facts indicate that birds have:
- acute vision;
- phenomenal memory, with the help of which the bird remembers a route compiled on the basis of visual perception.
Only certain breeds are used to transmit information. They can be easily distinguished from others by their size (they are larger than their counterparts) and massive beak. Peculiarities appearance The postmen are clearly visible in the photo. Post pigeon must be capable of learning, endurance and be able to fly quickly.
Postal birds are able to fly about 1100 km. Among the many breeds there are German, Russian, Belgian and Hungarian. Any of them is capable of working in pigeon mail for up to 20 years.
How is everything going? The note is sealed in a capsule and attached to the bird's leg. Wary of predators such as the hawk, two pigeons are often sent at once with similar messages.
This form of communication existed even before the advent of the telephone and the Internet, but even today pigeon mail continues to be used.
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 so capable, fast and lazy.
As soon as the chick learns to fly by the third week of life, its training begins immediately. During the first days, 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 you 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 original idea: pass notes using birds during traffic jams.
In general, no matter how much progress the modern world has reached, every woman in her soul will desire beautiful romantic deeds and exquisite gestures of attention. Delivering a love message to such ancient and in an original way- one of the most effective ways to win the heart of your beloved.
