What is Homing pigeon?
[[Image:Postduif.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Homing pigeon]] A '''Homing pigeon''' is a special [[breed]] of [[pigeon]]s. These pigeons have been [[domestication|domesticated]]. They have been [[selective breeding|selectively bred]] to find their way home. They can do this over very long distances.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Pigeon|last=Levi|first=Wendell|publisher=Levi Publishing Co, Inc|year=1977|isbn=0853900132|location=Sumter, S.C.|pages=82}}</ref> The wild rock pigeon from which these birds are bred also has this homing ability.<ref>{{cite book | last =Blechman | first =Andrew | title =Pigeons-The fascinating saga of the world's most revered and reviled bird. | publisher =University of Queensland Press | year =2007 | location =St Lucia, Queensland | url =http://andrewblechman.com/learn_more.html | isbn =9780702236419 | access-date =2009-12-23 | archive-date =2008-01-12 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080112210043/http://www.andrewblechman.com/learn_more.html | url-status =dead }}</ref> This means that it will generally return to its own nest and its own mate. This made it relatively easy to breed from the birds that repeatedly found their way home over long distances. Flights as long as 1800 kilometers have been recorded by birds in competition [[pigeon racing]].<ref>{{cite journal | last =Walcott | first =Charles | title =Pigeon Homing: Observations, Experiments and Confusions | year =1996 | volume =199 | issue =Pt 1 | pages =21–27 | journal =Journal of Experimental Biology | doi =10.1242/jeb.199.1.21 | pmid =9317262 | url =http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/199/1/21.pdf | format =Pdf article | accessdate =2008-01-04 }}</ref> Speeds of up to 95&nbsp;km/h (59&nbsp;mph) have been observed.<ref>{{cite web| title =The Speed of Birds| publisher =BBC.Co.UK| url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/birds/weeklyfeature/speedofbirds/| format =Web article| accessdate =2008-01-04| archive-date =2009-02-20| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090220203532/http://bbc.co.uk/nature/an