71: The History of Homing Pigeons

Join Morgan and Emileigh as they explore the (surprisingly) extensive history of a bird ubiquitous with bustling urban centers. The homing pigeon has been humanity's most reliable mode of long-distance communication for most of human history! 

*Warning* - some mention of animal experimentation. Nothing drastic or disturbing. 

 

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Sources:

 

“Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa’s Telkom” by Peroshni Govender (ed by Jon Hemming) (Sept. 10 2009)

https://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5885PM20090909/

 

“Sa pigeon ‘faster than broadband’” (Sept 10 2009)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8248056.stm

 

“Cocaine carrier pigeons are the latest drug smuggling technique” by Conrad Quilty-Harper (Sept 1 2015)

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/cocaine-smuggling-carrier-pigeons

 

“Homer Pigeons: Origin, Appearance, Behavior, Care, And More” by Khan Imran (Mar 18 2023)

https://avicultureblog.com/homer-pigeons/ 

 

“Rock Pigeon”

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rock_Pigeon/overview 

 

“Pigeon ‘caught with backpack of drugs’” (May 25 2017)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40042260

 

“The System of Military Dove Cotes in Europe” 

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14990/14990-h/14990-h.htm#art10

 

“Carrier Pigeons (Portugal)” by João Moreira Taveras (Feb 12 2016)

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/carrier-pigeons-portugal/

 

“Pigeon Homing: Observations, Experiments and Confusions” by Charles Walcott (1996); Journal of Experimental Biology, 199 (1); pp 21-27

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/199/1/21/7360/Pigeon-Homing-Observations-Experiments-and

 

“Paul Julius Reuter Founds the Reuters News Service” 

https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=46#:~:text=In%201850%20Paul%20Julius%20Reuter%20%28originally%20named%20Israel,points%20of%20the%20German%20and%20French-Belgian%20telegraph%20lines.

 

“Beginners Guide to Racing Pigeons”

http://www.pigeonmad.com/beginners_guide_to_racing_pigeons.php

 

“4. Cher Ami the Pigeon” from Top 10 Heroic Animals, Kayla Webley (Mar 21 2011) for Time Magazine

https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2059858_2059863_2060209,00.html

 

“How Pigeons Always Find Their Way Home” by Real Science on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DkMVCzvgRg 

 

“Cairo’s Fancy Flyers” by David Degner and Andrew D. Blechman (2011); Saudi Aramco World, 62(2); pp 5-9

https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/201102/cairo.s.fancy.fliers.htm

 

“Did Ancient Egypt Have a Pigeon Problem?” by Shoshi Parks (Jan 25 2023)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ancient-egypt-pigeon-problem

 

“The Natural History of Birds.” from Book X of The Natural History by Pliny the Elder. Att. to John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., & H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D10

 

“The pigeon that saved a World War II bomber crew” by Christopher Sleight (Feb 23 2012)

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-17138990 

 

“Indian pigeons lose out to e-mail” (Mar 26 2002)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1892085.stm

 

“Signal Corps Pigeons” by Carter W. Clarke, 1st Lt. (1933). The Military Engineer, 25(140); pp 133-138

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44563742

Sound Credits:

pfranzen https://freesound.org/people/pfranzen/sounds/192072/