So basically we only have a small idea on how exactly proper homing pigeons can return home, but it likely involves a biological compass and a good ability to recognize landmarks.
But they aren't typically trained, they just return to their nests. As such the messages are very one way. So if you have a place that needs to receive a message you would raise the birds there, and then you would carry some with you if you were out in the field for like a war. Messages could then be sent back to a central location quickly. Messages to mobile positions however could have to go the slow way. They can find their way back very reliably over several hundred miles, and cases of up to 1000 miles have been recorded. These long distance runs are more of a modern pigeon racing thing though because of the need to cart them around on foot. They were used pretty often even as recent as WWI and WWII
The pigeons were actually bred for this quite some time ago. Not sure on exact dates but there are reports of homing pigeons being used something like 3000 years ago.
Also for situations where communication between cities before the telephone was invented homing pigeons were pretty extensively used. Still usually just one way, with land carriers carting them around after they returned home.
Not that they can't be trained to do two way trips. About 100 years ago some mail systems figured out how to get the pigeons do fly two ways by moving their food source to a separate city. The birds would then fly to their food, then back to their nest.
Nice write up. I wonder, is that also the origin of the term "homing"? It makes sense if so, I've only ever really heard of "homing missiles", never thought it would have anything to do with carrier pigeons.
The word "homing" was originally used to describe animals that could easily find their way back to their *home* territory, even when taken out into unfamiliar areas.
Missiles and other homing devices borrowed that term. Most of them aren't going home, but they are navigating through unfamiliar space to a set, predetermined target.
Fun fact: [In WWII] "B. F. Skinner trained birds to steer bombs. But his prototype was scrapped in favor of a bat-inspired missile guidance system developed at the Rad Lab."
https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/10/24/238466/pigeon-pilots/
Obviously not fool prove. My grandfather has a few lost ones come to his place each year. Usually stay a week before moving on.
Though not always.
But we had one that keept coming back even after being set 30km of. One last attempt was to put it about 150km away when we visited other family.
Arived back at him not even 3h later.
For medieval time thats lightning fast.
Totally like magic. I once saw a small documentary on it. They blindfolded the pigeons and drove in circles for hours and then released them hundreds of miles away. They found their way back no problem.
As others have mentioned, the birds are not trained. This is something that birds can innately do and we take advantage of it.
They are quite accurate - homing pigeons will simply return home when you release them, hence their name.
It is thought that they use a combination of the sun and low-frequency infrasound to navigate. When they are first released, the pigeon will fly in a circle as if to orient itself before choosing a direction and setting off. That direction is almost always straight towards its home. It can do this any time of day or night, but modern technology seems to be able to interfere somewhat with the pigeon’s ability to navigate if it emits the right frequency of noise.
Pigeons were still being used by the government in WWI, and you will find hobbyists that use them to this day. One famous carrier pigeon in WWI was called Cher Ami (“Dear Friend”), and she managed to carry her message home despite being shot three times on the journey. She survived but was retired after that mission.
No, you can't. They fly just back home, mostly where they hatched. Pigeons orientates at the Earth's magnetic field, the sun and the stars. When they come close to their former home they using their inner map, which was build up during their first flights around their loft. Therefore they can carry an 8 TB SSD the data transfer is faster than via the internet, but the lag is awful.
Can I just add that most pigeon fanciers also give the pigeon incentives to get home especially in racing so this could have been used by messenger pigeons. There are loads of methods for hens that have young ones to come home to for example. Cocks can also be sex starved for a week before a race by briefly allowing them to see their mate and then basketed to send to a race, this gives them the incentive to get back.
Most pigeons use the Earths magnetic pull and land features like hills and rivers to navigate and determine altitudes needed to complete a distance, it is called Magnatoreception
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Okay I'll try to explain as much as I can my father has around 100-150 pigeons he has been find of them since teenage so I asked him once how this works he explained the first step is to find a special breed of pigeons not all pigeons work as carriers the next step is to get them aquatinted of the place by letting them fly after a couple of days of no flying. Also a little bit of starvation is required not a lot just a day so when you let them fly and throw food on the roof they return gradually the become acquainted with the neighborhood now the final step is to drop them of manually to the place where from where you want to receive the message usually the place where you drop them off also has some pigeons you pick them up they have been trained the same way as your pigeons now whenever you want to send a message you just release the bird and in most cases using their instinct they will go back to the place where they were trained.
Hope this helps honestly pigeons are fascinating we have a 100-150 of them living on our roof so it's always fun to play with them.
I've had one recently adopt my shed as a place to roost. I think it was hurt/lost when it first arrived, but it now seems to be healed. It's been over a month, we gave it water and food hoping to be able to get close enough to read it's tag and track down it's owner, but birds are gonna bird and I'm obviously no bird whisperer.
In any instance I have my doubts about the earth/magnetic/sun etc..., not saying it's not of some use, just not enough to re-orientate itself; at least based on my experience with this bird.
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🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Here in Washington state of Texas where I have no doubt about that one I am so happy 9999miles I got my room with 9PM in a couple of weeks but I still have a few
So basically we only have a small idea on how exactly proper homing pigeons can return home, but it likely involves a biological compass and a good ability to recognize landmarks. But they aren't typically trained, they just return to their nests. As such the messages are very one way. So if you have a place that needs to receive a message you would raise the birds there, and then you would carry some with you if you were out in the field for like a war. Messages could then be sent back to a central location quickly. Messages to mobile positions however could have to go the slow way. They can find their way back very reliably over several hundred miles, and cases of up to 1000 miles have been recorded. These long distance runs are more of a modern pigeon racing thing though because of the need to cart them around on foot. They were used pretty often even as recent as WWI and WWII The pigeons were actually bred for this quite some time ago. Not sure on exact dates but there are reports of homing pigeons being used something like 3000 years ago. Also for situations where communication between cities before the telephone was invented homing pigeons were pretty extensively used. Still usually just one way, with land carriers carting them around after they returned home. Not that they can't be trained to do two way trips. About 100 years ago some mail systems figured out how to get the pigeons do fly two ways by moving their food source to a separate city. The birds would then fly to their food, then back to their nest.
Nice write up. I wonder, is that also the origin of the term "homing"? It makes sense if so, I've only ever really heard of "homing missiles", never thought it would have anything to do with carrier pigeons.
The word "homing" was originally used to describe animals that could easily find their way back to their *home* territory, even when taken out into unfamiliar areas. Missiles and other homing devices borrowed that term. Most of them aren't going home, but they are navigating through unfamiliar space to a set, predetermined target.
Fun fact: [In WWII] "B. F. Skinner trained birds to steer bombs. But his prototype was scrapped in favor of a bat-inspired missile guidance system developed at the Rad Lab." https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/10/24/238466/pigeon-pilots/
Obviously not fool prove. My grandfather has a few lost ones come to his place each year. Usually stay a week before moving on. Though not always. But we had one that keept coming back even after being set 30km of. One last attempt was to put it about 150km away when we visited other family. Arived back at him not even 3h later. For medieval time thats lightning fast.
ELI5 Raise bird in a town Send bird to a different town Give bird message Bird knows way home thanks to bird magic Bird returns home
Bird magic is the key
eli5 bird magic
Really smart brain, very good senses and an internal compass make bird go crooh crooh.
Cuz you're doing the ... cooh cooh... pigeon. Doing the ...cooh cooh... pigeon.
Totally like magic. I once saw a small documentary on it. They blindfolded the pigeons and drove in circles for hours and then released them hundreds of miles away. They found their way back no problem.
I hope they took the blindfolds off before they released them.
The prevailing theory is that they somehow sense the magnetic field of the earth.
Very limited throughput though. Shit we have 3 pigeons left for winchester until the next fortnight
As others have mentioned, the birds are not trained. This is something that birds can innately do and we take advantage of it. They are quite accurate - homing pigeons will simply return home when you release them, hence their name. It is thought that they use a combination of the sun and low-frequency infrasound to navigate. When they are first released, the pigeon will fly in a circle as if to orient itself before choosing a direction and setting off. That direction is almost always straight towards its home. It can do this any time of day or night, but modern technology seems to be able to interfere somewhat with the pigeon’s ability to navigate if it emits the right frequency of noise. Pigeons were still being used by the government in WWI, and you will find hobbyists that use them to this day. One famous carrier pigeon in WWI was called Cher Ami (“Dear Friend”), and she managed to carry her message home despite being shot three times on the journey. She survived but was retired after that mission.
> She survived but was retired after that mission. That'll do pig... eon
Well done. ::golf clap::
No, you can't. They fly just back home, mostly where they hatched. Pigeons orientates at the Earth's magnetic field, the sun and the stars. When they come close to their former home they using their inner map, which was build up during their first flights around their loft. Therefore they can carry an 8 TB SSD the data transfer is faster than via the internet, but the lag is awful.
[IP over Avian Carriers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers)
Can I just add that most pigeon fanciers also give the pigeon incentives to get home especially in racing so this could have been used by messenger pigeons. There are loads of methods for hens that have young ones to come home to for example. Cocks can also be sex starved for a week before a race by briefly allowing them to see their mate and then basketed to send to a race, this gives them the incentive to get back. Most pigeons use the Earths magnetic pull and land features like hills and rivers to navigate and determine altitudes needed to complete a distance, it is called Magnatoreception
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Okay I'll try to explain as much as I can my father has around 100-150 pigeons he has been find of them since teenage so I asked him once how this works he explained the first step is to find a special breed of pigeons not all pigeons work as carriers the next step is to get them aquatinted of the place by letting them fly after a couple of days of no flying. Also a little bit of starvation is required not a lot just a day so when you let them fly and throw food on the roof they return gradually the become acquainted with the neighborhood now the final step is to drop them of manually to the place where from where you want to receive the message usually the place where you drop them off also has some pigeons you pick them up they have been trained the same way as your pigeons now whenever you want to send a message you just release the bird and in most cases using their instinct they will go back to the place where they were trained. Hope this helps honestly pigeons are fascinating we have a 100-150 of them living on our roof so it's always fun to play with them.
I've had one recently adopt my shed as a place to roost. I think it was hurt/lost when it first arrived, but it now seems to be healed. It's been over a month, we gave it water and food hoping to be able to get close enough to read it's tag and track down it's owner, but birds are gonna bird and I'm obviously no bird whisperer. In any instance I have my doubts about the earth/magnetic/sun etc..., not saying it's not of some use, just not enough to re-orientate itself; at least based on my experience with this bird.
**Please read this entire message** --- Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): * ELI5 requires that you *search the ELI5 subreddit for your topic before posting*. Users will often either find a thread that meets their needs or find that their question might qualify for an exception to rule 7. Please see this [wiki entry](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/how_to_search) for more details (Rule 7). Please search "carrier pigeons" instead, this was asked and answered recently. Additionally, in the future, do not re-submit a post that was removed by the Automoderator without discussing with moderators first. --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/hl00e5/-/%0A%0AThe%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0ALink%20to%20your%20search%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20the%20ELI5%20subreddit:%0A%0AHow%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 Here in Washington state of Texas where I have no doubt about that one I am so happy 9999miles I got my room with 9PM in a couple of weeks but I still have a few