Ryukyu Woodpigeon (Columba jouyi)
Posted on 31 December, 1936 in Extinct
Year Last Seen:
1936
Comments:
This species was formerly found in Japan's Ryukyu Islands, but it has not been recorded since 1936 and is now Extinct. The reasons for this are unknown, though it may have been due to habitat destruction.
Habitat:
It is likely to have inhabited the forested interior of the islands on which it lived.
Causes:
The reasons for its extinction are unknown, though it may have been due to habitat destruction (Hume 2017). Predation by introduced cats and rats may also have been a threat (Stattersfield et al. 1998).
Distribution:
Columba jouyi was endemic to Okinawa and Kerama, and the Daito Islands, in the Nansei Shoto Islands, Japan (Stattersfield et al. 1998). It was described in 1887 from a type in the Tokyo Educational Museum (Stejneger 1887), and is also known from three skins in the Natural History Museum at Tring (Knox and Walters 1994). It apparently declined rapidly (and inexplicably), and was last recorded on Okinawa in 1904, and on Daito in 1936 (Stattersfield et al. 1998).