When you watch a spy movie, you may roll your eyes when another random gadget turns out to be a powerful laser.

But not all of them are ridiculous cliches.

Truth is, reality really is stranger than fiction.

From very dangerous weaponized umbrellas to exploding bats,

here are some of the most incredible and unbelievable tools and methods used by spies in order to complete their missions.

You're listening. You're listening to be amazed.

When most of us think of spies, we picture sharply dressed pistol-holding smooth talkers.

We don't picture pigeons.

But as it turns out, perhaps we should.

As far back as the decadent times of ancient Rome, pigeons have been used to pass secret messages between important people.

These common birds, with an incredible

innate homing ability directing them to places over a thousand miles away, have continued to be

some of our best undercover agents ever since. During the First World War, pigeons were strapped with

small rudimentary cameras and sent into enemy airspace.

After a controlled time delay, the camera would snap pictures of enemy bases from above,

providing an invaluable military advantage.

British intelligence services at the time even considered strapping explosives or biological weapons onto them

so they could be detonated on target locations. But pigeons aren't the only species that people have used to spy on each other.

There have been countless instances of humans using animals innate abilities and senses to our advantage.

The next agent of animal's subterfuge is the common house cat.

Not officially as Acoustic Kitty, a CIA operation during the

Cold War involved implanting a radio transmitter, a microphone, and an antenna inside the body of a cat.

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