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The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica), selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances. Because of this skill, homing pigeons were used to carry messages, a practice referred to as " pigeon post ".
Pigeons have held historical importance to humans as food, pets, holy animals, and messengers. Due to their homing ability, pigeons have been used to deliver messages, including during the world wars. [5] Despite this, city pigeons, which are feral birds, are generally seen as pests, mainly due to their droppings.
Homing pigeons have long played an important role in war. Due to their homing ability, speed, and altitude, they were often used as military messengers. Carrier pigeons of the Racing Homer breed were used to carry messages in World War I and World War II, and 32 such pigeons were presented with the Dickin Medal. [1]
Cher Ami (French for "dear friend", in the masculine) was a male [a] homing pigeon known for his military service during World War I, especially the Meuse-Argonne offensive in October 1918. He is famous for delivering a message alerting American forces to the location of the Lost Battalion , despite sustaining severe injuries.
The American Homing Pigeon Institute was founded in 1973 [2] in Wichita, Kansas, [3] and focused on homing pigeons and the history of pigeon racing.Later, the museum expanded to include the total history of pigeon domestication.
A war pigeon at Signal Pigeon Center Tidworth (UK), United States Army Pigeon Service. The United States Army Pigeon Service (a.k.a. Signal Pigeon Corps) was a unit of the United States Army during World War I and World War II. Their assignment was the training and usage of homing pigeons for communication and reconnaissance purposes. [1]
Pigeon racing is the sport of releasing specially trained homing pigeons, which then return to their homes over a carefully measured distance.The time it takes the animal to cover the specified distance is measured and the bird's rate of travel is calculated and compared with all of the other pigeons in the race to determine which animal returned at the highest speed.
Pigeon post is the use of homing pigeons to carry messages. Pigeons are effective as messengers due to their natural homing abilities. The pigeons are transported to a destination in cages, where they are attached with messages, then the pigeon naturally flies back to its home where the recipient could read the message.