African collared dove
species of bird
The African collared dove (Streptopelia roseogrisea) is a small dove found in the Sahel, northern parts of the Horn of Africa and southwestern Arabia. Although it lives in arid lands, it is found around water sources.
This bird is typically around 26 cm (10 in) in length and 130–166 g weight. Its upper body, from shoulders to tail, is a pale greyish brown, though the wing edge has a bluish tinge. The flight feathers are darker, and nearly black. The head, neck and breast are pinkish shading to white on the chin and belly. There is no sexual dimorphism.
Two subspecies are currently accepted, though the genetic difference is minimal and the species may be better considered monotypic.
Streptopelia roseogrisea roseogrisea — nominate subspecies; across Africa in the Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert east to north-central Sudan
Streptopelia roseogrisea arabica (Neumann, 1904) — northeast Sudan to Eritrea and Somalia, and southwestern Arabia; slightly darker than nominate
The African collared dove is the wild ancestor of the domestic Barbary dove; some in the past have suggested that the Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto) may also have been involved, but there is only minimal evidence to support this. The African collared dove is able to interbreed with the Barbary dove, and it is thought that the increase in the range of colours of Barbary doves available that occurred in the later 20th century was the result of the importation of African collared doves into the United States for interbreeding.
The public source identifies “African collared dove” as species of bird. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around African, collared and dove.
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This entry incorporates text from “African collared dove” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.