When was the pigeon post first used?
The ancient Babylonians noted the habit of pigeons to fly back home. The ancient Egyptians built a network of pigeon towers watched over by special care takers. These were the official “post” to which the pigeon flew back. These pigeons carried the messages tied to their legs.
Romans even enlisted pigeons in the army. Each Roman Legion had pigeon carriers with 5-6 thousands birds. Those were used to collect the news from all over the Roman empire. In 1870, the besieged city of Paris communicated with the rest of France by pigeon post, with the birds carrying over a million dispatches.
More recently, pigeons were used to send important messages during the Second World War.
