Around 59 species of pigeons

The dodo, and its extinction, was more typical of the extinctions of pigeons in the past. Like many species that colonise remote islands with few predators, it lost much of its predator avoidance behaviour, along with its ability to fly.[72] The arrival of people, along with a suite of other introduced species such as rats, pigs, and cats, quickly spelled the end for this species and all the other island forms that have become extinct.[72]

Around 59 species of pigeons and doves are threatened with extinction today, about 19% of all species.[73] 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.[72] 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 cats.[74] In some areas, a lack of knowledge means the true status of a species is unknown; the Negros fruit dove has not been seen since 1953,[75] 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.[76]