Joe which flew 20 miles in 20 minutes arriving at the air base whilst the planes were taxiing on the runway. Message was hastily written and sent through G.I. Joe saved the lives of a thousand soldiers after British troops had established a position within an Italian town that was due to be bombed. During the second world war heroic pigeon named G.I.It was awarded the French ‘Croix de Guerre’ medal for heroic service. It was shot in the chest and the leg, losing most of the leg to which the message was attached, but continued the half hour flight to get the message home. During the First World War a pigeon named Cher Ami (dear friend) saved the lives of many French soldiers by carrying a message across enemy lines in the heat of battle.In the Christian religion the pigeon is both a symbol of peace and of the Holy Spirit. Pigeons are fed by many members of different religions including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs for spiritual reasons.Pigeons were carried on ships in convoys and in the event of a U-boat attack a messenger pigeon was released with details of the location of the sinking ship. In both the First and Second World Wars the pigeon saved thousands of human lives by carrying messages across enemy lines.In England in the 16th century pigeon guano was the only known source of saltpetre, an essential ingredient of gunpowder.It was viewed as the best available fertiliser and armed guards would even stand by pigeon houses to stop others taking the droppings. Pigeon droppings (guano) were seen as extremely valuable few centuries ago.Though believed to be dirty and disease ridden, pigeons are actually very clean animals and they are not significant transmitters of any disease.As pigeons have monocular vision rather than binocular vision they have to bob their heads for depth of perception. The pigeon has side mounted eyes, unlike humans and owls which have forward facing eyes.They can hear distant storms and volcanoes. Pigeons have excellent hearing abilities detecting sounds at far lower frequencies than humans are able to.Both sexes take turn incubating the eggs and both feed the chicks ‘pigeon milk’, a special secretion from the lining of the crop which both sexes produce. Both female and male pigeons share responsibility of caring for and raising young.Young dependant pigeons are known as ‘squabs’ which are ready to leave the nest at about two months of age.The pigeon mates for life and can breed up to 8 times a year bringing two young into the world each time.Pigeons are highly sociable animals often seen in flocks of 20-30 birds.Amazingly pigeons can fly at altitudes up to and beyond 6000 feet, and at an average speed of 77.6 mph.Amazingly, the last ‘pigeon post’ service was abandoned in India only in 2004. In India during British times pigeon post service was very active.In Roman times the pigeon was used to carry results of sporting events, such as the Olympic Games, and this is why white doves are released at the start of the Olympic Games today.This was in fact the sole source of communication. In the 12th century AD, the city of Baghdad and all the main towns and cities in Syria and Egypt were linked by messages carried by pigeons.The earliest large scale communication network using pigeons as messengers was established in Syria and Persia around the 5th century BC.Pigeons can travel 400-600 miles away from its home and can amazingly return within the day.They are known to use landmarks as signposts and will travel along man-made roads and motorways, even changing direction at junctions. They in fact use the sun as a guide and also have an internal ‘magnetic compass’. Pigeons are renowned for their outstanding navigational abilities.They can also recognize each letter of the alphabet, differentiate between photographs, and can even distinguish different humans within a photograph.They are one of only species to pass the ‘mirror test’, which is a test of self recognition.
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