A 1.4 Million Dollar Speedy Pigeon

The most unlikely news I saw today was this: Armando, a champion speedy pigeon, was purchased for a record 1.4 million dollars by a Chinese bird racing enthusiast.

PIPA, the website that organized the auction for Belgian breeder Joel Verschoot, said a pigeon named Armando was purchased by a Chinese buyer for $1.4 million, the highest price ever paid for a racing pigeon.

The website said it expected Armando, considered to be “the best long distance pigeon of all time,” to sell for a large amount, but officials were shocked by the size of the final bid. … The previous record holder was a pigeon named Nadine, which sold for more than $450,000 at a 2017 auction. The buyer in that case was also a Chinese pigeon enthusiast.

Via UPI

This video says they do a 140 mile race in about 3.5 hours so racing pigeons can fly an average of 40 mph for 3.5 hours, impressive!

The fastest homing pigeons, however, can definitely beat that:

Their average flying speed over moderate 965 km (600 miles) distances is around 97 km/h (60 miles per hour)^[4] and speeds of up to 160 km/h (100 miles per hour) have been observed in top racers for short^{[clarification needed]}distances.

Imagine driving down the freeway at 65 mph and suddenly a pigeon passes you going 90 mph.

The greatest self-powered horizontal speed is achieved by Homing Racing Pigeons. They can fly 1100 km (700 miles) in a single day, and they have been recorded flying at 177 km/h (110 miles per hour), making them the birds with the fastest speed ever recorded on a self-powered flight, and the fastest endurance flight.

This nearly 30 minute video below is interesting if you want to know more about Chinese millionaires who race pigeons. I just browsed it.

Would you know a 1.4 million dollar racing pigeon if you saw one among the other pigeons in the park? I wouldn’t.

“Psst. Wanna buy a fast bird?”

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TrueStrange.com