Editing Columbidae (section)

== Status and conservation ==
While many species of pigeons and doves have benefited from human activities and have increased their ranges, many other species have declined in numbers and some have become [[threatened]] or even succumbed to extinction.<ref name=":5" /> Among the ten species to have become extinct since 1600 (the conventional date for estimating [[Recently extinct birds|modern extinctions]]) are two of the most famous extinct species, the dodo and the passenger pigeon.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/deextinction/selected-species-extinctions-since-1600/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316050309/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/deextinction/selected-species-extinctions-since-1600|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 March 2013|title=Species Extinction Time Line {{!}} Animals Lost Since 1600|work=National Geographic}}</ref><ref name="CornellLab" />

The [[passenger pigeon]] was exceptional for a number of reasons. In modern times, it is the only pigeon species that was not an island species to have become extinct<ref name=":5" /> even though it was once the most numerous species of bird on Earth.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} Its former numbers are difficult to estimate, but one [[Ornithology|ornithologist]], [[Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)|Alexander Wilson]], estimated one flock he observed contained over two billion birds.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/06/the-birds-4|title=The Birds|magazine=The New Yorker|date=6 January 2014}}</ref> The decline of the species was abrupt; in 1871, a breeding colony was estimated to contain over a hundred million birds, yet the last individual in the species was dead by 1914.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nebraskabirdlibrary.org/columbiformes/columbidae/passenger-pigeon/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329221440/http://www.nebraskabirdlibrary.org/columbiformes/columbidae/passenger-pigeon/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=29 March 2016|title=Passenger Pigeon |publisher=Nebraska Bird Library}}</ref> Although [[habitat loss]] was a contributing factor, the species is thought to have been massively [[Overhunting|over-hunted]], being used as food for [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]] and, later, the poor, in the United States throughout the 19th{{nbsp}}century.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}
[[File:Zenaida graysoni 1.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The [[Socorro dove]] (''Zenaida graysoni'') is [[extinct in the wild]].]]
The [[dodo]], and its extinction, was more typical of the extinctions of pigeons in general. Like many species that colonise remote [[Island ecology|islands with few predators]], it lost much of its [[island tameness|predator avoidance behaviour]], along with its [[Flightless bird|ability to fly]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r__Tx8QKQfMC&pg=PA14|title=Pigeons and Doves: A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World|last=Gibbs|first=David|date=2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4081-3556-3}}</ref> The arrival of people, along with a suite of other introduced species such as [[rat]]s, [[pig]]s, and [[cat]]s, quickly spelled the end for this species and many other island species that have become extinct.<ref name=":10" />

118 columbid species are at risk (34% of the total), with 48 species [[Near-threatened species|NT]], 40 [[Vulnerable species|VU]], 18 [[Endangered species|EN]], 11 [[Critically endangered|CR]], and 1 [[Extinct in the wild|EW]].<ref name="CornellLab" /><!--<ref name="Walker">{{cite journal|author=Walker, J. |year=2007|title=Geographical patterns of threat among pigeons and doves (Columbidae)|doi=10.1017/S0030605307001016|journal=Oryx|volume=41|issue=3|pages=289–299|doi-access=free}}</ref>--> Most of these are tropical and live on islands. All of the species are threatened by [[introduced predators]], [[habitat loss]], [[hunting]], or a combination of these factors.<ref name=":10" /> In some cases, they may be [[extinct in the wild]], as is the [[Socorro dove]] of [[Socorro Island]], Mexico, last seen in the wild in 1972, driven to extinction by habitat loss and introduced [[feral cat]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=2555&m=0|title=Socorro Dove ''Zenaida graysoni''|last=BirdLife International|author-link=BirdLife International|year=2009|work=Data Zone|publisher=BirdLife International|access-date=26 June 2009|archive-date=5 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105145239/http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=2555&m=0|url-status=dead}}</ref> In some areas, a lack of knowledge means the true status of a species is unknown ([[Data deficient|DD]]); the [[Negros fruit dove]] has not been seen since 1953,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://iucnredlist.org/details/22691568/0|title=Ptilinopus arcanus (Negros Fruit-dove, Negros Fruit Dove, Negros Fruit-Dove)|journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|date=October 2016}}</ref> and may or may not be extinct, and the [[Polynesian ground dove]] is classified as [[critically endangered]], as whether it survives or not on remote islands in the far west of the Pacific Ocean is unknown.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://iucnredlist.org/details/22691030/0|title=Alopecoenas erythropterus (Polynesian Ground-dove, Polynesian Ground Dove, Polynesian Ground-Dove, Society Islands Ground-dove, White-collared Ground-dove)|journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|date=October 2017}}</ref>

Various [[conservation biology|conservation]] techniques are employed to prevent these extinctions, including [[Environmental law|laws and regulations]] to control hunting pressure, the establishment of [[protected area]]s to prevent further habitat loss, the establishment of [[Captive breeding|captive populations]] for [[reintroduction]] back into the wild (''[[ex situ]]'' conservation), and the [[Species translocation|translocation]] of individuals to suitable habitats to create additional populations.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qoeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25|title=Ethno-ornithology: "Birds, Indigenous Peoples, Culture and Society"|last1=Tidemann|first1=Sonia C.|last2=Gosler|first2=Andrew|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-54384-5}}</ref>