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Homing Pigeons
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 Since the Roman Empire, troops have used homing pigeons to carry messages from the front lines to command posts. They remained popular for long-distance communication, even after the telegraph was invented in 1844. In World Wars I and II, homing pigeons could operate faster than wires could be strung and farther than the troops’ radio signals. In one famous account, an infantry unit trapped behind enemy lines released three pigeons, but all were shot down. Despite her injuries, one took flight again and successfully delivered her message to save the soldiers. Military surgeons were able to save her life, and she received a French medal of honor and a visit from U.S. General John Pershing. Long ago, homing pigeons were bred from normal rock pigeons, which could find their home from as far as 1,000 miles away. Eventually, handlers realized they could train them to fly between points, by putting their feed at both spots. The birds could even adapt if one of those locations moved. This remarkable power of navigation is partly based on magnetoreception, as we discussed in an earlier EarthDate. But they may also be following anomalies in Earth’s gravitational field, infrasonic sound waves, and scent trails in the atmosphere. The only sense they use that we can experience ourselves is visual. Some studies suggest the birds read surface landmarks like rivers and highways to build their own aerial maps as they fly. It’s yet another remarkable adaptation of life.
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