Zenaida graysoni (lat.) - an endangered species of birds from the pigeon family , which lived exclusively on the Pacific island of Socorro , located to the west of Mexico. After a military base was established on the island, the population of these extremely gullible birds declined greatly in the 1960s due to imported feral cats and hunting. In the wild, birds were last observed in 1972, since then it has been considered extinct in the wild. A specific Latin name is given in honor of the American ornithologist Andrew Grayson (1819–1869) [1] .
| Zenaida graysoni |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Subfamily : | Leptotil pigeons |
| Gender: | Zealot turtledoves |
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Zenaida graysoni ( Lawrence , 1871 ) |
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Extinct in the wildIUCN 3.1 Extinct in the Wild : 22690740 |
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The turtledove reaches a length of 20 to 25 cm. The plumage is from red to brown. The beak is short and thin, reddish in color, dark at the end. Sexual dimorphism is very slightly expressed. Males have only a slightly more brilliant plumage than females. The pigeon was originally inhabited, probably in pairs, by very different biotopes , both forests and the coast.
The turtledove feeds on seeds and fruits, herbs and small insects.
About 100 birds survived in the USA and Germany, so it was possible to purposefully breed in zoos and zoological gardens to keep the species, at least in captivity. The breeding book in the framework of the European program for breeding endangered species of animals for Streptopelia Socorro is conducted at the Frankfurt Zoo . Breeding causes a number of problems. Many of the common doves grown by private holders are hybrids accidentally crossed with a weeping dove . This is a consequence of the fact that the turtledove until the beginning of the 1980s was considered a subspecies of the weeping turtledove. A further problem is the high level of male aggression. Pairs during the winter should be kept separately from each other, if the pairs are joined, the male very aggressively begins to pursue the female. General maintenance is only possible in principle with smaller birds of other families. There is a known case when the turtledoves even killed the red rosella [2] . The pronounced aggressive behavior is probably the reason why the turtledove was able to develop as an independent species and prevent the island from populating the weeping turtledove. The island was successfully inhabited by a weeping turtledove 16 years after the extinction of this species [3] .
The return of the turtledove is possible due to the extermination of feral cats. In addition, aviaries were built on Socorro Island to settle the first groups of birds under their protection.
