Species distinctions: Domestic Pigeon:
Weight: varies
Body length: varies
Incubation period: 17 to 18 days
Number of eggs: 2
Life-span: n/a
Diet: n/a
Distinctive qualities: have the ability to find the way homewards even after being freed far from home.

Pigeons, some species also known as doves, carrier pigeons, or homing pigeons, have been known to be domestic birds for centuries, with use in Asia and Rome as a religious symbol, for meals, and as messengers as the birds are notorious for their ability to be released far from home yet return as if nothing had disturbed it. At present, they are used for sport in contests called Pigeon Races, which are popular in Europe and the United States.

Bioelectricity: Similarly to other living organisms, the pigeon requires electricity to allow its wings to function, to survive, and to reproduce, as previously explained.

Biomagnetism: Pigeons are well known to be examples of birds who may use magnetism to navigate: as magnetite has been discovered to exist in their brains, it is believed that the birds are excellent at finding their way home despite the long distances from home at which they may be released, due to its existence within their cells. By use of the sun and their natural magnetic compass, used during cloudy days and at night to keep locate magnetic north, the birds may be able to navigate themselves home through darkness and storms at speeds of 80.5 km/h (50 miles per hour) without stopping once.

Infrasound: Although biomagnetism may be a method by which the birds navigate and determine their location, it has also been discovered that pigeons are capable of perceiving infrasound waves, which may aid them in determining the precise location at which they may find themselves. A form of support of this theory comes from a pigeon race which was held in 1997: pigeon races are an international sport, where pigeons are bred and trained to be taken from their homes to a distant location with other competitors, when are released. The return speeds of the birds as they find their way home are timed, where over 90% return in a few days, followed by the rest, with a few exceptions. However, in 1997, one particular race turned into what was considered a catastrophe for pigeon racers but something of interest to zoology.

June 29, 1997: to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, a race of more than sixty thousand homing pigeons began at 6:30 am from a field in Nantes, France. The birds were to fly to their lofts in southern England, 643.7 to 804.7 km (400.0 to 500.0 miles) away. The majority of birds left France and began their trek over the English channel with the expectancy that they would have arrived home by early afternoon, but when most did not return that day nor any days following, the race was labeled as a disaster. One bird would inevitably find itself lost, but what could explain the disappearance of thousands?

It was observed by an American Geological survey researcher, Jonathan Hagstrum, that as the pigeons made their way across the Channel, a Concorde supersonic transport (SST) airliner flew over the Channel at the same time from Paris to New York. When in flight, the SST generates an intense shock wave down towards the earth: pigeons below the SST could not have escaped the sound wave and the birds who had still been in France at the time were the birds to return to their lofts. As an explanation, it was suggested that the birds determine their location by use of atmospheric infrasound which they are able to hear well since their hearing apparatus is designed to detect low frequency sound wave. Infrasound travels for extremely long distances from the source. It could be possible that the low frequency shock waves produced by the ocean waves crashing against one another in the Channel- as well as the infrasounds reflected from cliffs, mountains, and other steep-sided characteristics of the earth’s surface- were what can guide the pigeons to their lofts in England. However, if the SST’s sonic boom obliterated the infrasounds, the birds would have easily become disoriented and changed direction, never being able to finish the race.

Another notable incident to address occurred in 1995, when France detonated a nuclear device that affected the rest of the world through reverberation. From the source in France, near Paris, infrasound waves traveled at the speed of sound for a radius of 1287.4 km (800.0 miles) in the first hour. Eleven hours later, the infrasound waves arrived in North America, and went undetected by homo sapiens ears. However, it was observed that pigeons found in the United States were disturbed by the waves, which they could detect very well with their ability to hear infrasonic sound waves. In essence, although humans may not be aware what other humans are doing as "secret tests", other living organisms are more than aware of the changes in the environment through the use of senses which are different from the human senses.