The barking imperial pigeon (''Ducula latrans''), also known as Peale's imperial pigeon, is a species of bird in the pigeon

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Columbidae Columbidae is a bird Family (biology), family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the Order (biology), order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, where it occurs on most of the medium and large islands. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are mature tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

. The species is one of two imperial-pigeons found in Fiji; the other, the

Pacific imperial pigeon The Pacific imperial pigeon, Pacific pigeon, Pacific fruit pigeon or lupe (''Ducula pacifica'') is a widespread pigeon species in the family Columbidae. It is found in American Samoa, the Cook Islands, the smaller islands of eastern Fiji, Kiribat ...

, is found on smaller islands.

Description

The barking imperial pigeon is frugivorous, feeding on large fruits of the trees '' Cananga'', ''

Didymocheton ''Didymocheton'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Meliaceae. It includes 41 species which range from eastern India through Indochina and southern China to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. The ...

'', and ''

Myristica ''Myristica'' is a genus of trees in the family Myristicaceae. There are over 150 species, distributed in Asia and the western Pacific as far as Vanuatu. The type species of the genus, and the most economically important member, is ''Myristica f ...

'' (nutmegs). It feeds alone or in pairs, occasionally occurring in small flocks on fruiting trees. The breeding season of this species is from May to January, with a single egg being laid on an insubstantial twig

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

. These birds are typically 40-44cm. The upper parts of this bird are grey. The upper wings and upper tail are a darker shade of brown. It has a black bill and the eyes are purple and red. Additionally, the bird got its name because it known to make loud barking "u-oo" in long series. Also, they make a "raa" noise. These calling are often associated with mating. Due to human hunting and interference the habitat for this bird is being put in danger and there has been a decline in the population of these birds!

References

Ducula Endemic birds of Fiji Birds described in 1848 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Titian Peale {{Columbiformes-stub