Photo by William T. Everett, © 1998. All rights reserved.
Upe

            The Upe or Nukuhiva Pigeon is a large, iridescent member of the dove family that currently occurs on the island of Nukuhiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. Formerly more widespread, the magnificent species has been reduced in population size over many years by hunting, habitat destruction, and predation by feral cats and rats. In 1993, ESRC President and Associate member Timothy Burr went to Nukuhiva with Tahitian biologist Albert Varnet on an expedition sponsored by the Zoological Society of San Diego to survey the island and estimate the remaining population numbers. The bird occupies extremely hostile terrain, but within their month-long census the team estimates that between 150-300 of these birds remain. Unless steps to remedy the causes of their decline, the species could become extinct within a generation.