Homing Pigeon Auction, Amman, Jordan

AMMAN, OLD CITY, JORDAN. 04/12/2018 At a rare pigeon auction in downtown Amman. Around hundred homing pigeon buyers, sellers and breeders fill the room as an animated man called Ghalib, wearing a white pigeon embroidered coat, wheels the rare birds up and down the room in an elaborate viewing cage while shouting out bids. There are many different breeds of pigeon with some of the rarest ones going for over three thousand dollars per bird. The sport of flying homing pigeons was well-established as early as 3000 years ago.They were used to proclaim the winner of the Olympics. Messenger pigeons were used as early as 1150 in Baghdad and also later by Genghis Khan.In 1860, Paul Reuter, who later founded Reuters press agency, used a fleet of over 45 pigeons to deliver news and stock prices between Brussels and Aachen, the terminus of early telegraph lines. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)