The #Nicobarpigeon #Caloenas #nicobarica (#Columbidae) is the closest living relative of the extinct #dodo and #Rodriguessolitaire. It is distributed from the #NicobarIslands to New Guinea, migrates in orderly flocks between islands, often is a #grounddweller, but breeds in #treenests. N. Alexandre et al. (2025) won a #haplotyperesolved and #chromosomelevel #genome.
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Reference:
https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esaf031

#Illustrations
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While not as well known as its cousin, the dodo, the Rodrigues solitaire is also quite important when talking about Holocene extinctions. Just like the dodo it was hunted by Europeans, while domesticated mammals introduced to the island went after its eggs, until the last one of them died in the mid 18th century.

#extinct_animals #extinct #rodriguessolitaire #dodo #bird #extinctbird #animal #rodrigues #indianocean #sciart #scientificillustration #pigeon #history #18thcentury #zoology