Look at this beautiful plumage! The Nicobar pigeon looks like it just came from an avant-garde beauty salon with a new dye job, but those are its normal feathers. Since they evolved in places where they had no natural predators, Nicobar pigeons did not need camouflage and instead developed a look to attract each other. They don’t look like dodo birds, but taxonomically they are the extinct bird’s closest relative in existence today.
The Nicobar pigeon resides in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, from the Indian Nicobar Islands eastward to places like Thailand and Papua New Guinea. Although its exact population count is unclear, the species is in decline because of deforestation and the release of non-native predators (like rats and cats) to these islands. The Nicobar pigeon is now considered “near threatened” with conservation efforts proposed to help the birds thrive again.
See more pictures of these colorful birds at My Modern Met. -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Flickr user Steve Wilson)