Let me start this conversation with a question. That how would you like to send a message to your friend? Of course, it will be a play of your fingers on your smartphones. But ever you think that how people of earlier time liked to send messages? However, I’m going to tell you an interesting fact about it. As in earlier times, people train pigeons to send messages. As pigeons have incredible ability to deliver messages. So, let’s see how do pigeons know where to deliver messages? And if you’re interesting to know about it, then navigate this article. As in this article, I’m going to discuss about it.
Homing pigeons, which are kind of domestic pigeons used to send messages from one place to another. However, the reason is that pigeons have remarkable ability to remember their home place.
If you have to send messages to a place, you have to choose a pigeon that has nesting in that place.
And thus, you can send messages from one place to another with the help of pigeons. And pigeons will never disappoint you.
However, if you have trust issues for it, then I want to point out Cher Ami, a pigeon who earned a medal for its services in world war 1 for delivering messages.
How Do Pigeons Know Where to Deliver Messages?
Pigeons were used to deliver messages from one place to another in ancient times. However, nowadays no one used them for that purpose, but there were unique pieces of training for pigeons in earlier times. In which they learned how to deliver messages. Now let’s see how pigeons can deliver messages.
Firstly, pigeons have remarkable ability to navigate their way back to home. However, scientists believe that pigeons are good navigators due to the following specific reasons.
Moreover, keep in mind that there is no scientific authentication for all the following reasons. Because this is still a mystery that how pigeons are such good navigators.
But, following theories are most acceptable and reliable to tell that how pigeons can know where to deliver messages.
Use of Compass and Map Mechanism:
However, scientists believe that pigeons use compass and map mechanisms to deliver their messages to the right place. As, their compass mechanism allows them that how to take the right flight while their map mechanism allows them to reach a specific place.
Moreover, many people believe that pigeons use the position and angle of the sun to take a good flight. As it means that with the use of sun’s position, pigeons get their way back to home.
Use of Infra sounds:
Infrasound’s are sounds that are not audible to humans. And these sounds produced by a lot of things like the ocean’s water and earth crust also produce such sounds.
Read also: How Do Pigeons See?
However, these sounds are audible to animals and birds including pigeons. That’s why scientists believe that pigeons use these sounds to get their way back to home.
Uses of Landmarks:
However, many believe that pigeons can also remember nearest land marks to their nesting. As no doubt, pigeons have remarkable memory that they never forget their way back to home. So, many of us believe that pigeons also use landmarks to reach their way back to home.
Use of Magneto Reception:
As, earth has its magnetic field. And many scientists believe that pigeons use this magnetic field to get their way back to home. But how do pigeons use this earth’s magnetic field? And a precise answer to this question is that pigeons have an iron concentration in their beaks.
And this thing allows them to use the earth’s magnetic field to find their way back to home. However, this phenomenon is known as magneto reception.
A Confusion About How Pigeons Find Place to Deliver Message:
Here I want to argue on a point that do pigeons know to deliver messages on exact places? And the answer to this question is no.
As pigeons don’t know how to exact places to deliver messages. Rather than that, pigeons just return to their home places, mean to their nesting.
Read also: Why Do Pigeons Attack Humans?
And if their nesting is in your place then the messages will be for you. As, pigeons are not that typical postman boy who can knock on your door and give you messages.
But, now the question is that how pigeons receive the message and deliver it. So, to know about this, let’s look at how pigeons train to deliver messages?
How Were Carrier Pigeons Trained?
In earlier times, pigeons were used to deliver messages. And for that people have to train them. In this training, at first, pigeons took from that place where they have to send messages.
As, it means that when pigeons send back with the message, they go back to their nesting place, and thus a message deliver to that place. And in this way, different pigeons took from different places where they have to send messages.
Now let’s see how in earlier times, people trained pigeons for message delivering services. For it, firstly, take a pigeon a little far away from its nesting place.
And then release them so that they can go back to their home place. However, this was the first step to teach pigeons to go back to their home place. And, when pigeons become habitual to it, then they start training from long distances.
Moreover, according to an estimation, pigeon can get their way back home even from a distance of 1100 miles per hour.
Do Homing Pigeons Ever Get Lost?
However, the precise answer to this question is no. As, a homing pigeon use rays of the sun to get a good flight.
Moreover, they can use infrasound to navigate their way back to home. Not only this, but homing pigeons have the ability to use the earth’s magnetic field. And this is possible due to the iron concentration in their beak.
So, as there are so many things available for pigeons to find their way back to home. That’s why the chance for pigeons to lost their way back to home is slim.
However, they can lose their way back home if they cannot use all of the above-mentioned ways to find their place.
Moreover, a homing pigeon can be lost their way back to home if something happens to them. As, if someone catches them or if predators attack them.
Wrap Up:
In earlier times, people used to send messages with the help of pigeons. And, they never hesitated to give their messages to pigeons.
Because pigeons always deliver messages to right place. But how do pigeons know where to deliver a message? This article is all about it.
Scientists believe that pigeons have an incredible ability to navigate their way back home. And they do this with the help of the sun’s position and its angle.
Moreover, pigeons use the earth’s magnetic field to find their way back home. Furthermore, pigeons use infrasound’s to get their way back home.
In earlier times, pigeons were trained to send messages. And for it, such pigeons took which has nesting in that area where to deliver the message. Therefore, pigeons just trained to get back to their place.