Whether it's a historical drama or the ravens in Game of Thrones, one has to wonder, can birds actually deliver messages with accuracy?

不管是歷史劇或是在《冰與火之歌：權力遊戲》中的渡鴉，你們一定有想過，鳥兒真的可以精確地傳遞訊息嗎？

Not to burst your fantasy bubble, but ravens, while incredibly intelligent, aren't the likeliest of birds to get this job done.

不是我要戳破你們的幻想泡泡，雖然渡鴉非常聰明，但牠們並不太適合傳遞訊息這份工作。

Sorry, Jon Snow.

Jon Snow 抱歉啦！（Jon Snow 是《冰與火之歌：權力遊戲》的男主角。）

But the somewhat surprising fact is that other birds, such as pigeons, are fantastic at it.

不過滿出乎意料的一件事是其他的鳥類，像是鴿子，就是很適合這份工作。

Hence, the name "Carrier Pigeon."

所以牠們又稱為「傳信鴿」。

In fact, they were successfully used nearly 3000 years ago to declare the winner of the Olympics abroad.

事實上，鴿子從三千年前就被廣泛地使用在世界各地傳達奧林匹克贏家的消息。

Pigeons have an innate homing ability, meaning they'll return to their nest to mate.

鴿子有種與生俱來的返鄉能力，也就是說他們會返回牠們的鳥巢交配。

Flights as long as 1800 kilometers have been recorded.

牠們曾有長達 1800 公里的飛行紀錄。

Because of this, they've been used for centuries to send messages.

所以牠們幾世紀以來都被用來傳遞訊息。

But, and this is a pretty big but.

但是，這是個滿重要的「但是」。

They generally only send messages in one direction.

鴿子通常只會單一方向的傳遞訊息。

They'd be taken away from their homes, and when needed, could send messages back home.

牠們會遠離家鄉，然後需要的時候再把訊息傳送回家。

Because their natural instinct was to fly there.

因為牠們天性就是會飛回家鄉。

So, the idea of sending a bird wherever you need it to go is a little farfetched.

所以，如果你想要這些鴿子到處幫你傳遞訊息可能會有點困難。

However, by placing their food at one location and their home in another, pigeons have been trained to fly back and forth between two locations reliably.

不過，藉由放食物在和家鄉相反方向的地方，鴿子已被訓練到可以在兩個定點來回飛行。

They have great eyesight and use the sun and the stars, landscapes, odors, sound waves and potentially even the earth's magnetic field to locate home.

鴿子們的視力非常好，並且可以利用太陽和星星、景觀位置、氣味、聲波，甚至可以利用地球磁場來定位家的方向。

Not to mention, they seem to have an internal compass which orients them.

更不用說，牠們似乎有指引牠們方向的內在指南針。

And because of their migratory behavior, they can be trained as flocks, as opposed to other birds which would require one-on-one attention to accomplish the task.

而且因為牠們有遷移的習性，牠們可以成群地被訓練去完成任務，和其他需一對一照顧的鳥類不一樣。

Special thanks to audible.com for supporting this episode and giving you free audio books of your choice on audible.com/asap.

感謝 audible.com 贊助本集節目，並在 audible.com/asap 提供免費有聲書給我們的觀眾。

Audible is the leading provider of audio books with more than 150,000 downloadable titles available across all types of literature.

Audible 是有聲書的領導品牌，提供超過 15 萬本各類可下載的文學作品。

We recommend the book "How We Got to Now" by Stephen Johnson, which covers six innovations that made the modern world.

我們推薦 Stephen Johnson 所著的 How We Got to Now，其中介紹了六個改變世界的發明。

You can download this book or another of your choice for free at audible.com/asap.

你可以在 audible.com/asap 免費下載這本書或其他你有興趣的書。

Special thanks to Audible for making these videos possible.

特別感謝 Audible 讓這些影片得以產生。

And subscribe for more weekly science videos.

訂閱我們的頻道以收看更多的每週科學影片。