Réunion pink pigeon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Nesoenas mayeri duboisi |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Columbiformes |
| Family: | Columbidae |
| Genus: | Nesoenas |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: |
†N. m. duboisi
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| Trinomial name | |
| Nesoenas mayeri duboisi Rothschild, 1907
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| Synonyms | |
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Columba duboisi (Rothschild, 1907) |
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The Réunion pink pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri duboisi) was a type of pigeon that used to live on the Mascarene island of Réunion. Sadly, it is now extinct, meaning it no longer exists anywhere in the world.
Scientists know about this pigeon from a description written by a person named Dubois in 1674. He described a pigeon that was rusty-red in color. They also found a single subfossil humerus (an arm bone) that matches the bones of the pink pigeon found on Mauritius. The Réunion pigeon's bone was just a little longer.
Dubois's description also mentioned that the pigeon's beak was red near its head. Its eyes had a red ring around them, like a pheasant's. These details suggest that the Réunion pink pigeon was very similar to the pink pigeon from Mauritius.
Here is what Dubois wrote about these pigeons:
wild pigeons, everywhere full with them, some with slaty-coloured feathering [Alectroenas?], the others russet-red [N. duboisi]. They are a little larger than the European pigeons, and have larger bills, red at the end close to the head, the eyes ringed with the colour of fire, like pheasants. There is a season when they are so fat that one can no longer see their cloaca [croupion]. They are very good tasting. Wood-pigeons and turtle-doves, as one sees in Europe and as good.
Today, the Réunion pink pigeon is considered a subspecies of the pink pigeon.
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What is a Subspecies?
A subspecies is like a special group within a species. Animals in a subspecies are similar enough to be part of the same species. However, they have small differences, often because they live in different places. Think of it like different types of dogs, all dogs are the same species, but a poodle and a labrador are different types.
About the Réunion Pink Pigeon
The Réunion pink pigeon belonged to the genus Nesoenas. A genus is a group of closely related species. In the past, scientists sometimes grouped Nesoenas with other pigeon groups like Columba or Streptopelia.
However, the pink pigeon and the Malagasy turtle dove don't quite fit perfectly into those other groups. It seems they are a unique family line that separated very early from other pigeons. Because of this, scientists now think it's best to keep them in their own genus, Nesoenas. This means the Réunion pink pigeon is back in the genus it was first described under.
Other Pigeons on Réunion
It seems there were other types of pigeons on Réunion island too. In 1619, a person named Willem Ysbrandtszoon Bontekoe wrote about many "ramiers" (doves) with blue wings. These were likely a type of Alectroenas.
Dubois, who described the rusty-red pigeon, also mentioned four kinds of pigeons:
- ramiers (doves)
- tourterelles (turtle doves)
- two kinds of pigeon
One of the "pigeon" types was the rusty-red one we are talking about. The other was slate-grey. It's possible that some of these birds were local versions of the Madagascar turtle dove. Scientists have found a subfossil arm bone and an ulna (another arm bone) that might belong to an extinct subspecies of this bird.
The slate-grey bird or the ramiers might be the blue-winged doves Bontekoe saw. What the other types of pigeons were is still a mystery today.
Why Did the Réunion Pink Pigeon Disappear?
Since Dubois was the only one who clearly mentioned the Réunion pink pigeon, we don't know much about its extinction. The last reports of native pigeons on Réunion were in 1687 and 1689. However, the Alectroenas pigeons might have lived a bit longer.
By 1705, a person named Jean Feuilley said that all native pigeons on the island were extinct. It is very likely that two main things caused these birds to disappear:
- Introduced animals: Rats and cats were brought to the island by humans. These animals would have hunted the pigeons and their eggs.
- Too much hunting: People hunted the pigeons for food.
These two factors, working together, probably led to the Réunion pink pigeon's extinction.
