Thanks to some ground-breaking genetic research, the extinct spotted green pigeon (Caloenas maculate) – often known as the “Liverpool pigeon” after its home in National Museums Liverpool – finally has its correct place in the pecking order of birds after more than 230 years.
It came here in 1851 as part of the natural history collection of Edward Stanley, 13th earl of Derby. Over the years many experts tried to identify the bird, with most of them concluding it was an aberrant Nicobar pigeon or a close relation.
The problem has been that specimens from very old collections are particularly difficult to analyse because the DNA is so damaged.
On top of that, chemicals such as naphthalene and arsenic have been used to preserve the specimens and these interfere with potential DNA results.
However, scientists at Griffith University in Australia invented a new way of extracting and purifying tiny fragments of DNA from feathers and the results show that our spotted green pigeon is unique and a distant relation to the Nicobar pigeon, the Rodrigues solitaire and, most excitingly of all, the dodo of Mauritius.
I’m now very keen for the Australian team, led by Tim Heupink, to analyse fragments of other specimens in our collection that we are similarly not sure about.
While it’s important that the city of Liverpool is highlighted once again for culturally-important matters, we would like everyone to call the bird the spotted green pigeon rather than the Liverpool pigeon as people get confused and think it was originally collected here.
The spotted green pigeon, officially listed as extinct by BirdLife International, would originally have come the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia or Oceania.
But that hasn’t stopped someone setting up a micro-pub in the north of the city called the Liverpool Pigeon.
Clem Fisher is the curator of vertebrate zoology at the World Museum, Liverpool
It came here in 1851 as part of the natural history collection of Edward Stanley, 13th earl of Derby. Over the years many experts tried to identify the bird, with most of them concluding it was an aberrant Nicobar pigeon or a close relation.
The problem has been that specimens from very old collections are particularly difficult to analyse because the DNA is so damaged.
On top of that, chemicals such as naphthalene and arsenic have been used to preserve the specimens and these interfere with potential DNA results.
However, scientists at Griffith University in Australia invented a new way of extracting and purifying tiny fragments of DNA from feathers and the results show that our spotted green pigeon is unique and a distant relation to the Nicobar pigeon, the Rodrigues solitaire and, most excitingly of all, the dodo of Mauritius.
I’m now very keen for the Australian team, led by Tim Heupink, to analyse fragments of other specimens in our collection that we are similarly not sure about.
While it’s important that the city of Liverpool is highlighted once again for culturally-important matters, we would like everyone to call the bird the spotted green pigeon rather than the Liverpool pigeon as people get confused and think it was originally collected here.
The spotted green pigeon, officially listed as extinct by BirdLife International, would originally have come the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia or Oceania.
But that hasn’t stopped someone setting up a micro-pub in the north of the city called the Liverpool Pigeon.
Clem Fisher is the curator of vertebrate zoology at the World Museum, Liverpool