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Today is World Endangered Species Day. In this context, we would like to introduce you to the captive breeding of the Pink Pigeon at the Gerald Durrell Endangered Wildlife Sanctuary (GDEWS) in Black River. Captive breeding has been an important conservation action that has helped facilitate the restoration of some of our rarest endemic bird species in Mauritius. Captive breeding consists of bringing individuals from the wild into a captive setting. This captive population either becomes an insurance plan in the event that there is a drastic decline in the wild population or else, it becomes a source of individuals for re-introductions back into the wild. The advantage of breeding birds in captivity is that conditions can be controlled, such as food, predators, diseases, poaching, and usually allows a greater production of offspring to that achievable in the wild.
Pink Pigeons are captive-bred at the Gerald Durrell Endangered Wildlife Sanctuary, a facility that was set up in the 1970s by the Forestry Service, and has been co-managed by the government’s National Parks and Conservation Service and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation. Captive breeding of the Pink Pigeons was done in 2023/2024 by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation in conjunction with staff from the National Parks and Conservation Service, Paignton Zoo (UK) and Jersey Zoo (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, UK).
In preparation for the 2023/2024 captive breeding season, six juvenile female Pink Pigeons were sourced from the wild and brought to the GDEWS. These females were used to replace older females that had already been used for captive breeding for several years, it was hoped that the introduction of younger females would lead to a higher production of fledglings (offspring). These young females were given some time to acclimatise to the captive setting before pairing them with male Pink Pigeons.
The captive Pink Pigeons were paired as from late September 2023 to mark the start of the 2023/2024 captive breeding season. Pre-selected male and female individuals were released into an aviary together to allow breeding to occur. In the aviaries where the birds were kept, metal trays were provided so that the Pink Pigeons had a secure place to build their nests on. Bushy branches and potted plants were provided in the aviaries to make the setting as ‘natural’ as possible, to provide perches, and places for the female to escape away from the male, if needed. Between pairs, weed suppressant was used as a visual barrier to prevent aggressive behaviour between males housed in neighbouring aviaries.
As from the point that the pre-selected male and female were allowed into an aviary together, they had to be closely observed. The male and female will not always accept the forced pairing, and one of them can physically attack the other (males tend to be the most aggressive), therefore the birds were monitored closely and were separated if needed. Some pairs responded well to each other, and showed very little aggressive behaviour, whilst others needed to be separated and new partners found.
Three of the male Pink Pigeons in the captive breeding population at GDEWS were birds that were repatriated from Jersey Zoo (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, UK) to Mauritius in 2019. The captive population in Jersey Zoo (along with other captive populations in Europe and America) was established as an insurance plan (‘safety net’) in the 1970s when the Pink Pigeon population in Mauritius was at its lowest, with 9 or 10 known individuals. Recent studies have shown that the captive populations outside Mauritius have genetic material that is now missing in the remaining wild population in Mauritius. The repatriation of these male Pink Pigeons was the first step towards returning this missing genetic material back to the wild population, with the plan being that these males would be paired with female Pink Pigeons (sourced from the wild in Mauritius) for captive breeding, and then their offspring would be released into the wild. Each of the three male Pink Pigeons repatriated from the UK were paired with a ‘Mauritian’ female Pink Pigeon for captive breeding in 2023/2024.
The 2023/2024 Pink Pigeon captive breeding season ended in late December, the pigeons that were paired together were separated and placed back in individual aviaries. The Pink Pigeons are not paired all year round as breeding is energetically costly (especially for the females), and so they require time to recover between seasons.
The 2023/2024 Pink Pigeon captive breeding season was particularly successful with almost all known fertile eggs having hatched, and all squabs that hatched fledged. Six Pink Pigeon fledglings were produced overall. It was also a success since three of those fledglings were from pairings between Mauritius and UK sourced Pink Pigeons. These three fledglings are the first step towards the genetic management of the wild Pink Pigeon population in Mauritius, something that is considered vital for securing the long-term survival of the species. Captive breeding was previously a way of producing more individuals to boost existing populations, or to create new populations. Moving forward, the captive breeding of the Pink Pigeon promises to be more impactful in terms of the genetic management of the species.
Captive breeding has been a crucial tool in the restoration of endangered endemic species in Mauritius. It is a particularly effective technique but requires a lot of work, experience and dedication. The success achieved in 2023/2024 was only possible through the hard work and experience of the captive breeding team at GDEWS.
The Pink Pigeon captive breeding and rearing programme is run by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation in collaboration with the National Parks and Conservation Service, Jersey Zoo (UK) and Paignton Zoo (UK).
Text by Sion Henshaw, Fauna Manager at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.
