Two-color fruit pigeon

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Two-color fruit pigeon
Two-colored fruit pigeon (Ducula bicolor)

Two-colored fruit pigeon ( Ducula bicolor )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Pigeon birds (Columbiformes)
Family : Pigeons (Columbidae)
Genre : Large fruit pigeons ( Ducula )
Type : Two-color fruit pigeon
Scientific name
Ducula bicolor
( Scopoli , 1786)
Portrait of a two-color fruit pigeon
Like many other fruit pigeons, the two-color fruit pigeon can occasionally hang upside down from branches while foraging for food

The two-colored fruit pigeon ( Ducula bicolor ), also called the nutmeg fruit pigeon , is a large bird in the pigeon family (Columbidae). Two-colored fruit pigeons inhabit the forests and mangroves on the small islands and archipelagos in the Indian Ocean , from New Guinea to the northeast and east of Australia . There are two subspecies.

The species is common in its range and is classified as not endangered by the IUCN .

Appearance

The two-colored fruit pigeon has a body length of 38 to 42 centimeters and a wingspan of 45 centimeters. It corresponds to a large breed of domestic pigeons . The tail is short in relation to the length of the body. The head is flat. There is no gender dimorphism .

Two-colored fruit pigeons have predominantly white plumage. At the ends of the wings and tail feathers, the plumage is black. The beak and legs are blue-gray, the eyes dark brown. In the subspecies D. b. melanura , which occurs on the Moluccas , the black tail end is larger than that of the nominate form . The subspecies also has more black on the under tail-coverts.

behavior

They mainly build their nests on coconut palms. A single white egg is placed in the nest by the female, which hatches after about 26 to 28 days. The young birds fledge after about three to four weeks.

They feed mainly on fruits. They can consume relatively large fruits with large seeds such as nutmegs through their extensible mouth and throat. In the intestinal tract, the fruit shell is scraped off the core, which is then excreted again. They only have a short intestine and no gizzard.

Keeping in human care

The first two-colored fruit pigeons were already kept in Germany in 1893 ( Berlin Zoo ) and 1896 ( Cologne Zoo ). Compared to this, the breeding took place relatively late. The first recorded offspring in Germany came from the Allwetterzoo Münster in 1977. They have only been bred more frequently in zoological gardens since the 1980s. In 1980 four zoos reported offspring, in 1989 eleven zoos had already successful breeding with this species. Today the two-colored fruit pigeon - with eleven holdings in Germany and 47 in the rest of the EAZA area - is probably the most common fruit pigeon kept and bred in European zoos.

The European fruit pigeon project shows the following offspring statistics for the last few years:

year Number of breeders (private + zoos) Number of participating zoos, bird parks, etc. Offspring (m / f / u)
2010 7th 3: Cologne Zoo , Zoo Pilsen , Prague Zoo 6/6/3
2011 7th 2: Cologne Zoo , Zoo Pilsen 9/4/3
2012 10 4: Attic Zoological Park , Zoo Cologne , Zoo Pilsen , Prague Zoo 11/9/19

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literature

  • Gerhard Rösler: The wild pigeons of the earth - free life, keeping and breeding , Verlag M. & H. Schaper, Alfeld-Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7944-0184-0 .
  • The International Zoo Yearbook (IZY): Birds (bred in captivity and multiple generation births 1977) , Vol. 19 Issue 1 (1979): pp. 305-344.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rösler, p. 307
  2. ↑ a b two-colored fruit pigeon ( Ducula bicolor ) on zootierliste.de, accessed on June 8, 2013.
  3. ↑ International Zoo Yearbook, p. 329
  4. ↑ Rösler, p. 308 (without specifying which zoos are involved)
  5. ↑ offspring statistics on Fruchttaubenprojekt.eu

Web links

Commons : Pied Imperial Pigeon ( Ducula bicolor )  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files