The most expensive racing pigeon sold for $1.9 million in China. Here's why people drop millions on these prized birds.

A pigeon sold for a record-breaking $1.9 million in China in November 2020, making it the most that a racing pigeon has ever been sold for. Messenger pigeons were used across ancient Egypt and Rome, and their high value isn't new. In 2018, two men tried to win the prize money at a pigeon race by smuggling their birds on a bullet train. In Taiwan, an organized criminal ring was kidnapping valuable racing pigeons and holding them at ransom. So what is it that makes racing pigeons so expensive?