The Sulu bleeding-heart (''Gallicolumba menagei'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the pigeon and dove family,

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the island of

Tawi-Tawi Tawi-Tawi, officially the Province of Tawi-Tawi ( tl, Lalawigan ng Tawi-Tawi; Tausug: ''Wilaya' sin Tawi-Tawi''; Sinama: ''Jawi Jawi/Jauih Jauih''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim ...

and its surrounding islets in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

' Sulu Archipelago. This species is known only from two specimens collected in 1891, and has not been recorded with certainty since. It lives in primary and secondary forests that have a closed

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

. The Sulu bleeding-heart is a medium-sized pigeon with a short tail. Bright metallic green feathers stretch from the forehead and crown down to the mantle and sides of the breast, where they surround a large, pale orange breast spot with diffuse edges that gives the species the name "bleeding-heart". The lower wings and back are varying shades of brown, and the throat and chest are largely white. The belly is an ashy-gray. Like other bleeding-hearts, the Sulu bleeding-heart is primarily a sedentary bird, feeding on the forest floor and flying only for short distances. Little is known about its behavior due to the paucity of sightings. Searches of Tawi-Tawi in 1971 and 1991 did not discover any evidence of the species' continued existence. Most of the bird's habitat was logged on Tawi-Tawi by 1994. However, an ethnobiological survey in 1995 revealed that the bleeding-heart was common until the 1970s and still survives on small islets near Tawi-Tawi. While another survey in 2009 failed to find the species, there is some hope that it may still persist. For this reason, it is currently listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. Any surviving population would be very small, likely numbering fewer than 50 individuals, and would be threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and uncontrolled hunting.

Taxonomy

The Sulu bleeding-heart was originally described in 1894 as ''Phlogoenas menagei'' by

Frank Swift Bourns Frank Swift Bourns (1866 – 1935) was an American ornithologist and doctor. He was involved in two different expeditions to the Philippines with Dean Conant Worcester to gather natural history specimens. From 1887 to 1888 they participated i ...

and

Dean Conant Worcester Dean Conant Worcester, D.Sc., FRGS (October 1, 1866 – May 2, 1924) was an American zoologist, public official, and authority on the Philippines. He was born at Thetford, Vermont, and educated at the University of Michigan (A.B., 1889). He first ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

, a male, was collected by them from the small island of Tataan off the coast of Tawi-Tawi in October 1891. The specific name, ''menagei'', honors

Louis F. Menage Louis Francois Menage (August 3, 1850 – March 18, 1924) was a real estate Speculation, speculator and prominent figure in early Minneapolis, Minnesota history. Born in Rhode Island, he settled in Minneapolis in 1874. Characterized as a "tycoon ...

, a Minnesota real estate tycoon who funded the expedition. It is a member of the bleeding-heart superspecies, which includes

Luzon bleeding-heart The Luzon bleeding-heart or punay (''Gallicolumba luzonica'') is one of a number of species of ground dove in the genus ''Gallicolumba'' that are called "bleeding-hearts". The native name in Tagalog is punay. It is also known as ''paloma de puna ...

Mindanao bleeding-heart The Mindanao bleeding-heart (''Gallicolumba crinigera''), also known as Bartlett's bleeding heart dove, Barlett's bleeding heart pigeon and the hair-breasted bleeding heart, is a species of bird in the pigeon family. It is endemic to the Philippi ...

Mindoro bleeding-heart The Mindoro bleeding-heart (''Gallicolumba platenae''), also referred to as ''kulo-kulo,'' ''la-do'', ''manatad'', ''manuk-manuk'', ''punay'', and ''puñalada'' by the Mangyan, is a species of ground dove native solely to the island of Mindoro in ...

, and

Negros bleeding-heart The Negros bleeding-heart pigeon (''Gallicolumba keayi'') is endemic to the Philippines where it is found on the islands of Negros and Panay. It is critically endangered; continuing rates of forest loss on the two islands where it occurs suggest ...

; these birds are so similar that some authors have considered them to be a single species. Some authors place the Sulu bleeding-heart, the other bleeding-hearts, and the

cinnamon ground dove The cinnamon ground dove (''Gallicolumba rufigula'') also known as golden-heart dove, red-throated ground dove or golden-heart pigeon is a species of ground-dwelling dove in the genus ''Gallicolumba''. It is native to New Guinea. Description ...

in their own subgenus, ''Gallicolumba''. The Sulu bleeding-heart has no known subspecies. It is also called the Tawitawi bleeding-heart and the Tawitawi Puñalada.

Description

The Sulu bleeding-heart is a medium-sized pigeon with a short tail. Bright metallic green feathers stretch from the forehead and crown down to the mantle and sides of the breast. The

scapula The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eith ...

r feathers are a dark chestnut color and are fringed with iridescence that can appear violet, green, or lilac in different lights. The wing-coverts are also a dark brown, with some of the feathers being ashy-gray at the tip to form a slight wingbar. The primary and greater coverts as well as the secondaries are a fulvous-brown edged in rufous, while the primaries are a dark brown with the longest feathers being tipped in black. The bleeding-heart's underwings are chestnut. The back down to the upper portion of the tail is a ruddy-brown narrowly fringed with metallic green or violet. The center of the tail is dark brown while the edges are ashy-gray and tipped with a broad black band; the undertail-coverts are orange while the undertail is ashy-gray. The area around the bird's eyes is black with a faint hint of glossy green, and the chin, throat, and breast are pure white. The upper breast is framed by large patches of metallic green feathers of the same coloration as the mantle that form an incomplete breast band in the center of the chest. In between these patches is a large, pale orange breast spot with diffuse edges. The belly is ashy-gray. Males and females are similar in appearance, and the plumage of the juvenile is unknown. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

is a light silver-gray. The bill is black with a gray tip, and the feet are red. The bleeding-heart is between long, and the weight is unknown. The Sulu bleeding-heart is easily distinguished from most terrestrial doves found on Tawi-Tawi. The

emerald dove The common emerald dove (''Chalcophaps indica''), also called Asian emerald dove and grey-capped emerald dove, is a widespread resident breeding pigeon native to the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. ...

is most likely to be confused with the bleeding-heart, but the emerald dove is distinguished by a larger and whiter shoulder patch, a white supercilium, and dark chestnut underparts. Two bleeding-hearts are kept as pets and may escape on Tawi-Tawi; the Sulu bleeding-heart differs from the

by not having the Luzon bleeding-heart's purple nape and back, and from the

by lacking prominent gray wing-bars and an orange belly. The Sulu bleeding-heart's vocalizations have never been described.

Distribution and habitat

The Sulu bleeding-heart is

to the island of

and its nearby islets in the southwestern part of the

's Sulu Archipelago. The bleeding-heart is believed to be

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

on the Tawi-Tawi mainland, but there are indigenous reports of the species on the nearby

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

s of Tandubatu, Dundangan, and Baliungan. There is also an unconfirmed nineteenth-century sight record of the species from the island of

Jolo Jolo ( tsg, Sūg) is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has ...

in the center of the Sulu Archipelago. The species lives in primary and secondary forests that have a closed

. On the smaller islets, it lives in beach forest.

Ecology and behavior

Like other bleeding-hearts, the Sulu bleeding-heart is primarily a sedentary bird, feeding on the forest floor and flying only for short distances. It only perches in trees in order to roost or mate. When alarmed, bleeding-hearts run quickly into nearby undergrowth. It is very elusive in its forested habitat, and nothing else is known about its behavior.

Status

The Sulu bleeding-heart is considered to be critically endangered by the IUCN. The Sulu bleeding-heart has always been considered a rare bird, and only two specimens, both males, have ever been taken of the species. The specimens, collected in October 1891 on the small islet of Tataan, are the last time anyone has definitely seen the Sulu bleeding-heart alive. The bleeding-heart was searched for 22 days in December 1971 and briefly in September 1991 without success. Most of Tawi-Tawi's forests were cleared by August 1994, and the Sulu bleeding-heart may well be

on the mainland. However, an ethnobiological survey in 1995 generated reports that the bleeding-heart survives and is regularly seen on the nearby islets of Tandubatu, Dundangan, and Baliungan. It was also reported that the species was quite common until the 1970s. Despite this, an expedition in 2009 failed to find any signs of the species or discover a new report of the species' continued existence. The islets it reportedly survives on may also be too small to support a viable population. Any surviving population of Sulu bleeding-hearts is likely to be small, possibly numbering fewer than 50 birds, and would be threatened by continued habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting. As the Mindanao and Luzon bleeding-hearts are popular cagebirds, any bleeding-heart found on Tawi-Tawi could also be an escaped bleeding-heart instead of the indigenous Sulu bleeding-heart. There are no protected areas in the Sulu Archipelago, and other than two environmental education initiatives in the 1990s nothing has been done to protect any surviving population. The

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

has listed the bird as an

EDGE species Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species are animal species which have a high 'EDGE score', a metric combining endangered conservation status with the genetic distinctiveness of the particular taxon. Distinctive species have ...

References

Cited texts

* * * *

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q478111

Sulu bleeding-heart The Sulu bleeding-heart (''Gallicolumba menagei'') is a species of bird in the pigeon and dove family, Columbidae. It is endemic to the island of Tawi-Tawi and its surrounding islets in the Philippines' Sulu Archipelago. This species is known on ...

Endemic birds of the Philippines Fauna of Tawi-Tawi Fauna of Sulu Fauna of Basilan