Talk:Mail delivery by animal

A fact from Mail delivery by animal appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 4 August 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that animals have delivered mail throughout history, with different postal services using pigeons, reindeer and even cats?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/August.

Wikipedia

Naming[edit]

For information: I considered the name "animal mail" (now a redirect) but I think this it is a little ambiguous, particularly in relation to human mail. violet/riga (t) 10:19, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Possible image[edit]

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec – 1881 driving the mail couch at Nice. violet/riga (t) 10:19, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Other birds?[edit]

What about birds of prey like in The Mummy Returns?--Peta 11:25, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure some other birds have been used, but I'm finding it a little difficult to find source information for it at the moment. violet/riga (t) 11:32, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Post riders[edit]

"Post riders were primarily for the exclusive use of the government or military and carried no civil correspondence as a rule. What differentiated post riders from these earlier efforts was that they were open to the public and created for the public convenience." Post riders carry only military mail or not? --Gbleem 23:53, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'll have a look to see if I can clear that up a little. violet/riga (t) 09:51, 4 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

IP over Avian[edit]

I removed the reference to the April Fool's joke. I don't think it belongs in an encyclopedia entry. Yossiea 16:26, 7 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've put it back in as it was actually done. violet/riga (t) 16:32, 7 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Even so, it was one pigeon and that doesn't make it "used for Internet transmission." Yossiea 17:03, 7 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It was one group of pigeons (there were nine of them). They were used to carry a packet of information from one place to another, thus it is relevant. violet/riga (t) 17:06, 7 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Snail mail?[edit]

"Personally, I think the comment about "snail mail" is a tad irrelevant and should be deleted. Seeing as it is impossible to conceive of there ever having been a delivery-by-snail system, I think clarification of the term is unnecessary. But if no one else minds, I'll leave it there. 68.210.132.153 21:42, 9 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've reworded it a little. violet/riga (t) 22:00, 9 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Cats?[edit]

I hope that's a joke. I know it's sourced but... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.69.139.16 (talk) 14:50, 30 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]