Each One Teach One: What I learned about Carrier Pigeons

Before phones, email, text messages, or even the postal service, humans relied on a different method of receiving mail and relaying messages. Intelligent, reliable, and low maintenance, it was arguably the best and most creative communication system in history: the carrier pigeon. These birds were the OG Airdrop with more feathers and fewer connectivity issues.

History of carrier pigeons

Carrier Pigeons were used back in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia to carry messages, military news, and critical weather-related news such as an impending flood. The Greeks and Romans continued to use pigeons to communicate across empires. In Greece, people even used pigeons to share the results of the Olympic Games.

Starting in the 19th century, cities like New York utilized Carrier Pigeons for news reports, to carry stories for publication, and for wartime communication. Specially trained pigeons could even fly with small packages on their backs, such as those used by German Pharmacist Julius Neubronner to send medication to patients and, later on, to take bird's-eye pictures and videos of the world.

Negative Effect

Have you ever seen a pigeon nest? If not, believe me when I say that they are absolutely terrible. Not only do they have an average of five sticks and random pieces of trash, but they are also built in the most random and inefficient places. However, this is not because pigeons are against interior design or because they are lazy, it is actually our fault.

We domesticated pigeons to use to carry mail and share messages, which they proved to be very good at. However, as technology evolved, humans did not need to rely on pigeons anymore and eventually abandoned them. This is why they're bad at building nests. Before being domesticated, pigeons kept their eggs in crevices on the side of cliffs where they lived, therefore, they never needed to create nests. After domestication, they did not return to those environments. This is one negative effect of domesticating pigeons to use for communication.

Famous Carrier Pigeon

One of the most famous Carrier Pigeons was G.I. Joe, who was awarded the Dickin Medal in 1946. Joe was a member of the US Army Pigeon Army during World War II. He saved countless allied soldiers and citizen lives after flying 60mph to deliver a message calling off a scheduled airstrike.

G.I. Joe is just one of many carrier pigeons who risked everything to deliver crucial messages, flying regardless of injury or exhaustion. 

In summary, pigeons are much more incredible than most people know. Today, you can join a waitlist to send a message by carrier pigeon. There are just over twenty-seven thousand people on the list!