Homing Pigeons History and Origin
Homing pigeons or homers are pigeons that have a highly developed homing instinct and can return to their home lofts after being released from a distant place. Descended from the wild rock pigeons of Europe, Asia and Africa, they have been known to fly more than 1,000 miles in two days.
Before the avent of the telegraph, our ancestors depended on homing pigeons to carry important messages.
According to the Bible, Noah released a dove to test whether the waters of the Flood had receded and the dove returned with an olive branch. When the land had cleared, the dove did not return. If you accept, the Biblical acount of history, then man's relationship with doves has been around since the beginning of our civilization.
In the days of the Pharaohs, the Egyptians announced the arrival of important visitors by releasing pigeons from incoming ships. This may have been common as early as 2900 BC.'
King Sargon of Akkad, who lived ca. 2350 BC in Mesopotamia, had each of his messengers carry a homing pigeon. If the messenger was attacked en route, he released the pigeon.
In the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, around 776 BC, homing pigeons carried messages to the city-states, announcing the winners!
Homing pigeons were also used by the Romans, around the fourth century AD to carry important messages of the Roman Empire.
In the twelfth century Genghis Khan (1167-1227) used a pigeon relay system to communicate messages across Asia and much of Europe.
To this day, homing pigeons continue to be used to carry messages during war. We now release flocks of white homing pigeons to bring joy, love, and peace at weddings, birthdays, funerals, and other special events!
