1You have probably seen pigeons pecking for peanuts in the park and thought they were very ordinary. 2The ancient Greeks used these carrier pigeons to send news about the Olympic games. 3For centuries, armies have used pigeons to send news to and from the front lines where the battles were taking place. 4Now, a hospital on the Northwest coast of france uses a flock of forty pigeons to carry tiny samples of human blood to larger testing facilities. 5There is also a police department in Orissa, India, that still uses the birds.
6In Orissa there are 27 police pigeon cages, called lofts, where the officers care for the birds. 7When the pigeons are about six weeks old, they are taken a short distance from their lofts and allowed to find their way home. 8This is how their training begins. 9The officers gradually increase the distance, and eventually the pigeons can fly as far as 310 miles, stop for a meal of wheat and millet, and then returned to their homes. 10In good weather conditions, the pigeons fly as fast as fifty-five miles per hour. 11The message a pigeon carries is in a tiny plastic capsule that is attached to its leg.