EOTO #1: Carrier Pigeons

 Carrier Pigeons

Carrier Pigeons have been used for many years to send messages across long distances in order to spread important information from one person to the next. Now we just shoot a quick text that can reach others, whether you're down the road, states away, or whole oceans apart. Because of this we as humans have left pigeons to wander the streets of big cities as we make up conspiracies about how pigeons aren't real and that they're really robot government spies. 

Carrier Pigeons have had multiple different names throughout their years such as; mail pigeons, messenger, and homer pigeons. The nicknames carrier, mail, and messenger are pretty self-explanatory because they send mail and carry messages. The name homer pigeons comes from the fact that pigeons always find theirs way back home. Although scientists haven't come to a full conclusion on how pigeons know where they're going, some have theorized that they use landmarks, magnetoreception, and infrasound to figure out where they are and where they're going. 

The first potential usage of carrier pigeons dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia. These pigeons were used to carry new of the Nile River flooding to different civilizations because the Nile was such a crucial source of food and water, transportation, and provided fertile land for agriculture to many who lived by it. We also saw carrier pigeons being used by the Greeks, to share results of the Olympic Games to distant cities; and the Roman Empire used them for military communication.

Similarly to the Romans, during World War I and World War II, carrier pigeons were used to spread messages to the from the front lines. During WWI pigeons were most commonly used by the British Expeditionary Force to send messages from the front-line trenches or advancing units, to provide them with crucial information. During WWII both the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers used carrier pigeons, although it was more favored among the Allied Powers. Pigeons were used when communication methods like radio were unreliable or unavailable, they used pigeons to send messages from the front lines to the generals at the top. 

Carrier pigeons were a crucial part of the World Wars and were even awarded for their message sending abilities. Cher Ami, a WWI pigeons delivered a crucial message that saved a large group of surrounded American infantrymen while dodging German bullets. Cher Ami lost his right leg and was permanently blinded, the but message was delivered. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government to honor bravery on the battlefield. Another pigeons Gi Joe, an American career pigeon who saved more than 1,000 lives by delivering a message to cancel the scheduled bombing of a city in Italy that has earlier been captured with the Dickin Medal by the Lord Mayor of London. Finally Commando a British carrier pigeon during WWII carried out more than 90 messages in and out of Vichy France to Britain, from agents in France. He carried information such as locations of German Troops, industrial sites, and injured British soldiers. He was awarded the same medal. 

In the early 1860's journalists would use carrier pigeons to get new reports from on city to the other. New York City newspapers in the 1800's would station reporters in Halifax, Nova Scotia to receive reports from ships arriving in Europe and use these pigeons to send their stories to New York. Although pigeons were commonly used for long distance communication, we also saw papers in New Orleans use them to deliver photographers film from sporting events such as Tulane football game. They would send the film straight from the stadium down to the newspapers office in about six minutes. 

Carrier pigeons have helped aid humans throughout many years. Although we have no use for them anymore we still remember carrier pigeons as being a humorous way to communicate with each other.