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Information about Tooth Billed Pigeon

Tooth-billed Pigeon

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Columbiformes
Family:Columbidae
Genus:Didunculus
Peale, 1848
Species:D. strigirostris
Binomial name
Didunculus strigirostris
(Jardine, 1845)
The Tooth-billed Pigeon, Didunculus strigirostris, also known as Samoan Pigeon is a medium-sized, approximately 34 cm long, dark green pigeon with red bare skin around eye, chestnut wings, dark red feet and dark brown upperparts plumage. It has a large, curved and hooked orange bill with tooth-like projections on lower mandible. Both sexes are similar, but the juvenile is duller with a dark bill.

The only extant member in the monotypic genus Didunculus, the Tooth-billed Pigeon is confined to undisturbed forests of Samoa in the Pacific. It feeds almost exclusively on the fruits of Dysoxylum, a tree in the mahogany family.

The Tooth-billed Pigeon is the national bird of Samoa and is locally known as the Manumea.

The Tooth-billed Pigeon has no close living relative, and may represent a link between the pigeons and the extinct Dodo (Didunculus means "little Dodo"). The jaw and tongue structure, and the superficially parrot-like bill have suggested a relationship to the parrots, but these features have arisen from its specialised diet rather than any real relationship.

Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range, small population size and occasional natural disasters, the Tooth-billed Pigeon is evaluated as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

References

External links

conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in number, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Columbiformes
Latham, 1790

Families
  • Columbidae
  • Raphidae


The bird order Columbiformes includes the very widespread and successful doves and pigeons, classified in the family Columbidae, and the extinct Dodo and the Rodrigues
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Columbidae

Subfamilies

see article text

Pigeons and doves constitute the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerine birds.
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Titian Ramsay Peale (born November 2, 1799; died March 13, 1885) was a noted American artist, naturalist, entomologist and photographer. He was the sixteenth and youngest son of noted American naturalist Charles Willson Peale.
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet (February 23, 1800 - November 21, 1874, Edinburgh) was a Scottish naturalist.

Jardine made natural history available to all levels of Victorian society by editing and issuing the hugely popular forty volumes of
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Columbidae

Subfamilies

see article text

Pigeons and doves constitute the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerine birds.
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The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which, in addition to eating, is used for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, courtship, and feeding their young.
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Motto
Fa'avae i le Atua Samoa
(Samoan: "Samoa is founded on God")
Anthem
The Banner of Freedom
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean


The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum
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Dysoxylum Blume

species

See text.

Dysoxylum is a genus of plants, mainly trees in the mahogany family Meliaceae. There are about 70 species and they range from Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia and through to other
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Meliaceae
Juss.

Type genus
Melia
L.

Genera
See text.

The Meliaceae, or the Mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants) in the order Sapindales,
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This is a list of national birds, most official, but some unofficial:
  • Angola - Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus http://www.namibstamps.com/namibia2004birds.

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Motto
Fa'avae i le Atua Samoa
(Samoan: "Samoa is founded on God")
Anthem
The Banner of Freedom
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Raphus
Brisson, 1760

Species: R. cucullatus

Binomial name
Raphus cucullatus
(Linnaeus, 1758)


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Psittaciformes
Wagler, 1830

Systematics

(but see below)

Family Cacatuidae (cockatoos)
  • Subfamily Microglossinae (Palm Cockatoo)
  • Subfamily Calyptorhynchinae (dark cockatoos)
  • Subfamily Cacatuinae (white cockatoos)

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endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in number, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters.
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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
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IUCN

International Organization
Founded October 1948, Fontainebleau, France
Headquarters Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland

Key people Mr Valli Moosa
Ms Julia Marton-Lefèvre
Industry Natural resource conservation
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