Carrier pigeons are a variety of the Rock Pigeon that are selectively bred for their innate homing abilities. Their innate homing ability made them very useful for carrying messages. However, because they can effectively only store one memory of their home, they can only really send messages one way: the sender of the message must have the receiver's carrier pigeon with him/her and release it when ready to deliver a message. However, it is possible to train them to fly back and forth, reliably, between two locations (home and where its food is) up to twice a day.

Cher Ami

Carrier pigeons were used fairly extensively throughout both World Wars. Of the 64 Dickin Medals given since 1943, 32 were awarded to pigeons. One particularly famous pigeon, Cher Ami, was responsible for saving the Lost Battalion of the 77th Division in the battle of the Argonne during World War I. The 77th Division were trapped in a small depression behind enemy lines without food or ammunition. They had already lost a lot of lives to the Germans and were being shot at by allies who did not know where they were. The first two birds they tried to send out were quickly shot down. Cher Ami, their last homing pigeon, was sent out with their location and a plea for help. As she first begin to take flight, Germans began to shoot her down and bullets flew all around. She was eventually shot down, but was soon able to fly again. She survived the 25 mile flight to the division headquarters despite being shot through the breast, being blinded in one eye, and having one leg held on with just tendon. The doctors worked very hard to save her life and even carved a new small wooden leg for her. She went on to receive the Croix de Guerre medal and the Oak Leaf Cluster for her service. She eventually died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey on June 13, 1919 from her battle wounds.

Carrier pigeons have all but gone entirely out of use with the advent of telephony. Is there any room left for the carrier pigeon in a place and time where the postal service is dying a slow death? Is there any interest left in a way of communicating that doesn't rely on the immediacy we have come to expect?

The Irish Elk is misrepresented by its name, they were neighter exclusively Irish nor were they elk. They were one of the largest deer that ever lived whose skeletons have been found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are called Irish because a great number of well preserved skeletons were found in the peat bogs of Ireland.

They weighed between 1300-1500 lbs., stood about 6.9 feet tall, and had the largest antlers of any known deer. Their antlers, at their most, stretched 12 feet long- from tip to tip. Comparatively, the average antler on deer still alive range from 3"-60" (approximately). 

These enormous animals fell victim to the Ice Age and dropped into extinction around 10,500 years ago. If these deer had managed to live through the Ice Age and subsequent years, what would it have been like to have them be among us? Would we place their antlers over our mantle places, keep them captive in zoos? I think that most people tend to think of an animal's value only in relation to themselves. This is evident in our obsession with pets, zoos, and whole websites devoted to baby animals. I think we love animals because we love how they make us feel.

The dodo's personal date of extinction remains speculative, but it is widely accepted that it happened between 1688 and 1715 and was mostly caused by human intervention. The etymology of their name is also rather unclear. Some suggest that it is an onomatopoeic approximation of it's call "doo-doo". Still, others believe that it comes from the Portuguese word for fool: doudo. 
Dodos rose to prominence with the publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. One made a brief appearance in chapter 3, where he conducts a Caucus race where an assortment of animals runs around in circles, starting and stopping whenever they pleased, and bestowing Alice with her own thimble after she has given all the participants the comfits in her pocket.


These oddly shaped, flightless birds have become a symbol for things that have dropped into antiquity or extinction.