What is unusual about the British gallantry award called the "Dickin Medal"?

First awarded in 1943, the Dickin medal recognises the gallantry of animals in wartime. It is named for Maria Dickin (1870-1951), a social reformer who founded the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, or PDSA, a charitable organisation that helps with treatment costs for poorer people's animals. The full title of the award is the PDSA Dickin Medal.

The award takes the form of a bronze medallion with a laurel wreath on a green, brown, and blue ribbon, with the inscription "For Gallantry - We Also Serve". The use of the phrase "For Gallantry" - also used on the prestigious George Medal - shows the esteem in which this award is held.

People may be surprised to discover that the most prolific recipients of the Dickin Medal are not dogs or even horses, but pigeons. This becomes clearer when we consider that electronic communications as we know them today either did not exist or were in their absolute infancy, so pigeon post was a vital means of communication, and homing pigeons' almost uncanny sense of direction was an asset that can't be understated. 32 pigeons were honoured with the medal in the World War II, along with 18 dogs, 3 horses and a ship's cat.

The medal is still in existence, and its most recent recipient was a dog called Kuga who served in Afghanistan, honoured with it in 2012.