Department of Biology, Cantonment Public College, Saidpur Cantonment―5311, Nilphamari, Bangladesh

*Corresponding Author: Ashraful Kabir, Department of Biology, Cantonment Public College, Saidpur Cantonment―5311, Nilphamari, Bangladesh; Email: [email protected]

Received Date: October 12, 2023

Publication Date: November 24, 2023

Citation: Kabir A. (2023). Contrasting Points In The Middle Of Two Ring-Doves (Aves: Columbiformes). Mathews J Vet Sci. 7(5) :29.

Copyright: Kabir A. © (2023)

ABSTRACT

In this world, there are many ring-doves. Perspective Bangladesh, there is only one Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto) in nature but very similar other exotic species Barbary/Fawn dove (Streptopelia risoria) is available in the aviary. After a long time of observation of S. risoria (fawn dove/Barbary dove) with the wild species Streptopelia decaocto, only the size difference was prominent. In addition, due to selective breeding, the fawn doves have gained many colour mutations. Streptopelia decaocto is a completely wild bird and S. risoria is a domestic or cage bird all over the world. There were differences in their voice quality and learning behaviour (Table 1; Plates 1-5).

Keywords: Ring doves, Streptopelia decaocto, Streptopelia risoria, Barbary dove, Fawn dove, domestication, selective breeding, colour, mutations

INTRODUCTION

In the case of the Eurasian collared-dove (Streptopelia decaocto), decaocto was a servant girl transformed into a dove by gods to escape her unhappy treatment. Eurasian collared-doves made their way to North America via the Bahamas, where several birds escaped from a pet shop mid-1970s. Bird feeders and trees planted in urban and suburban areas are the main factors in the species colonization of the continent (www.allaboutbirds.org). Whereas, the Barbary dove/Barbary turtle-dove (Streptopelia risoria/Turtur risorius, Latin word risoria means laugh) has so long been domesticated in England that its original habitat has become rather uncertain (Alderson, 1911) [1]. Streptopelia/Spilopelia these genera are considered synonyms of Columba (Gibbs et al., 2015) [2]. In Bangladesh, Streptopelia has 4 genera (Kabir, 2021) [3]. Baker (1913) [4] mentioned two subspecies of Streptopelia risoria―Streptopelia risoria risoria (Indian ring-dove) and S. r. xanthocycla (Burmese ring-dove). The objective of this article is to make a complete difference between two common ring-doves of Bangladesh though one is wild and the other one is domestic as well as exotic bird.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TWO TYPES OF DOVES

There are some differences between two types of ring-doves but specifically size, colour, voice, and learning behaviour were the basic point on this query.

Table 1: Difference between S. decaocto and S. risoria.

Features	Streptopelia decaocto/Columba decaocto	Streptopelia risoria/Turtur risorius
Alternative names	Eurasian collared dove, Indian/Eurasian ring-dove, Collared turtle-dove	blond ring-dove, domestic ring-dove/collared dove, fawn dove, Barbary dove/Domesticated turtle-dove
Subspecies	Goodwin (1970) [5] mentioned three subspecies of this dove―Streptopelia decaocto decaocto (in India), S. d. stoliczkae (China), and S. d. xanthocyclus (in Burma)	Baker (1913) [4] described two subspecies of this dove―Streptopelia roseogrisea roseogrisea, and S. r. arabica
Distribution	Asia, Europe	Southern Europe, Western Asia, and various parts of Africa
Domestication history	This is completely wild	Long domesticated form of the African collared dove, S. roseogrisea, and it has past hybridization with S. decaocto
Dependency	Largely dependent on man for food in winter	Completely depend on humans
Total length	32 cm	30 cm
Tail length	Larger tail	Smaller than decaocto
Voice	Very clear and narrow	Coarse laughing voice
Colour	Primaries are black; rump feathers are silver	Light drab primaries; rump and upper tail feathers are grayish drab; under parts and under tail feathers are near black and white
Mutations	Since this is wild, so it has no other colour mutations	Ringneck dove is available in over 40 colour mutations are a little more complicated because some of the mutations are sex-linked and some are co-dominant (Soucek, 2006) [6]
Status	Wild birds; resident but shows local migration (Ali and Ripley, 2001) [7]	Often locally established feral or semi-feral condition (Goodwin, 1970) [5]
Learning behaviour	For its wilderness, it is not easy to handle	Due to domestication, this is easy to pet
Longevity	18 years	23 years

                                                                                                                                   

Plate 1: S. decaocto                                                                     Plate 2: S. risoria

Photo Courtesy: @Jim Merritt, Macaulay Library © (2023)

Plate 3: Sample from taxidermy (left-ventral; right-dorsal) (source: van Grouw) [8].

Plate 4: Colour variation (source: Fitter and Richardson [9]) Plate 5: Wing feathers (source: van Grouw) [8]

CONCLUSIONS

Perspective Bangladesh, there are vast possibilities to breed S. decaocto with S. risoria in the cage. In petshops or home, many people keep this dove Streptopelia risoria (fawn dove). We could study the genetic material of the squab after identifying their different parents S. decaocto and S. risoria. S. risoria is a small version of S. decaocto. Kabir (2014) [10] unconsciously mentioned the breeding or colour genetics of the Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto) instead of fawn dove (Streptopelia risoria). The flying of S. risoria is very poor and cannot cope with the natural environment, and it has no homing ability. In addition, due to domestication and huge selective breeding it has gained huge colouration as well as a crested bird (Kabir, 2019) [11] and S. decaocto are completely wild till now. For storing the purity of the genetic material of S. decaocto, we should special care of S. risoria as if they could not escape from the cage. People sometimes catch wild doves to keep in the cage. For strong ‘Wildlife Act’ now doves in Bangladesh are surviving well and increasing enormously in nature (Kabir, 2020) [12].

REFERENCES

1. Alderson R. (1911). My Foreign Doves and Pigeons. The Feathered World, London. 95.
2. Gibbs D, Barnes E, Cox J. (2015). Pigeons and Doves: A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. 615.
3. Kabir A, Hawkeswood TJ. (2021). A compilation on the taxonomic distribution of wild pigeons/doves in some parts of Asia and Australia. Calodema. 972:1-10.
4. Baker ECS. (1913). Indian Pigeons and Doves. Witherby & Co, London. 260.
5. Goodwin D. (1970). Pigeons and Doves of the World. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) London. 446.
6. Soucek GA. (2006). Doves: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual. Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. 95.
7. Ali S, Ripley SD. (2001). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (vol. 3). Oxford University Press, New Delhi 110001, India. 327.
8. Kabir MA. (2014). Breeding biology of domesticated Eurasian Collared Dove (Columbidae) Streptopelia decaocto Frivaldszky 1838 in Saidpur, Bangladesh. Int J Envir. 3(2):48-54.
9. Fitter RSR, Richardson RA. (1973). Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., London and Glasgow. 287.
10. van Grouw H. (2018). Streptopelia risoria and how Linnaeus had the last laugh. Bio One. 138:19.
11. Kabir AM. (2019). Crested barbary dove (Streptopelia risoria) in pet shop of Kushtia, Bangladesh. J Dairy Vet Animal Res. 8(4):175-177.
12. Kabir A. (2020). Breeding status of wild doves in Bangladesh. Int J Res Stud Zoo. 6(1):1-4.