In the world of high-speed airplanes, the Internet, and mobile networks, the carrier pigeon is a fabulous character who magically delivers letters to recipients without errors. But how doves manage to stay on track, even modern scientists cannot answer for sure.
How do birds look for addresses?
The direction of flight of pigeons in distant wanderings is always one - home. Pigeon mail is based on the phenomenon of returning home. Feathered addresses are not sought, they simply strive for their native nests.
Birds are taken away from their native places to be sent back at the right time with a message. About a century and a half ago, pigeon mail stations with birds of two categories - “friends” and “strangers” - were built in Europe. To send letters, pigeons were picked from those places where they wanted to deliver mail.
Is there a breed of carrier pigeons?
In birds, nature has unique abilities that man has long perfected in the process of selection, domestication, and training. Carrier pigeons as a separate breed does not exist. The best birds from experienced postmen are now selected for sports in range and speed.
Postal pigeons continue to be used for their intended purpose in the Swiss army for emergency communications, in India they are sent to remote areas. In Holland, pigeons are urgently sent medications with pigeons - this is the fastest way to deliver over short distances.People appreciate the unique abilities of birds, which help out in situations where traditional message delivery is impossible.
Which pigeon will not leave the race?
According to statistics, the reliability of delivery of letters by pigeon mail is an average of 90%. It is no accident that during the war years the last hopes for salvation were pinned on birds. The winged postmen lived up to people's expectations. A case of the period of the First World War is known when a dove, wounded, delivered a message about a lost battalion. Thanks to the bird, 194 people were saved.
During the Great Patriotic War, they organized a “pigeon mobilization”. The reliability of the winged letter delivery served as the basis for approving communications arrangements in battlefields.
Birds with a muscular physique, large beak, and waxworm are capable of long-distance flights. The birds reach the highest physical indicators at the age of 3-4 years. Pigeons carry loads, weighing a third of their own weight, 70-90 g. Winged postmen fly up to 1000 km, but the champions covered distances much more. The birds are ahead of the train, developing speeds of up to 150 km / h. A day flight at an altitude of up to 400 m can last up to 12 hours without rest. At night, the pigeons rest.
You can trust mail to pigeons who managed to find a mate. Monogamous always strive to return to their soul mate. Lonely birds can remain on the side if they meet a single chosen one.
What is unique about carrier pigeons?
The secret, how doves find the right path, remains not fully disclosed. There are two main versions:
- equipping the beak of pigeons with a magnetic receptor system - the orientation is due to capture changes in the magnetic field of the earth;
- auditory perception of vibrations, vibrations in the spectrum of low-frequency sound waves.
The second version has the largest number of adherents. Many inhabitants of the planet, including humans, do not pick up sound less than 16 Hz. Pigeons perceive low-frequency signals, are able to navigate to them, maintain the correct course, since infrasound is characterized by low absorption in various environments. The conditional map of the earth with the reflection of low-frequency waves in the noise of the forest, sea, buildings is read by birds during the flight to the smallest detail. The dove will fly to the window where they are waiting.
Pigeons are called natural computers for their unique navigational capabilities. The instinct of returning to one's homeland distinguishes different birds, but not every bird man trusts important information. The pigeon has earned this trust.
