biology

Norfolk pigeon

Norfolk pigeon is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Norfolk pigeon rather than just read about it. In short: The Norfolk pigeon or Norfolk Island pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae spadicea), sometimes called the wood quest, is an extinct Norfolk Island subspecies of Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae, the New Zealand subspecies of which is the extant kererū. H. novaeseelandiae probably colonised Norfolk Island from New Zealand during the Pleistocene.

Key takeaways

Norfolk pigeon belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Norfolk pigeon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Norfolk pigeon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Norfolk pigeon or Norfolk Island pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae spadicea), sometimes called the wood quest, is an extinct Norfolk Island subspecies of Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae, the New Zealand subspecies of which is the extant kererū. H. novaeseelandiae probably colonised Norfolk Island from New Zealand during the Pleistocene. The Norfolk pigeon became extinct around the start of the 20th century.

Taxonomy German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster described the Norfolk pigeon as Columba argetraea in 1794, however the name was not used. English ornithologist John Latham described it as Columba spadicea in his 1801 work Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici. Twenty specimens of the Norfolk pigeon are known, including three in the Natural History Museum, Leiden, two in the Natural History Museum New York and one in the World Museum Liverpool. DNA collected and analyzed from toepad tissue indicated that the Norfolk Island pigeon is genetically sister to the New Zealand Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae population. Early records from Norfolk Island indicate the local people gave it the name "wood quest", however the name was not passed on from the second settlement to the Pitcairn settlers. The term is related to the words "queece", "queest" and "quist" used for the wood pigeon in the West Midlands and southwestern England.

Ecology

The abundance of the Norfolk pigeon at the time of the island's settlement is unknown. Early records indicate the presence of the bird, but do not contain any information on its numbers. Based on the behaviour of the other subspecies, it is likely that the bird relied upon fruiting plants for food.

Extinction The extinction of the Norfolk pigeon was caused by a combination of the introduction of cats and weasels, habitat destruction by human settlers, and direct hunting by humans. Before European settlement, the bird had been hunted by Polynesian inhabitants of the island. When Europeans reached the island, the pigeon was still there but the Polynesians were not. The Europeans took up the bird as a food source. An officer of the penal colony there, Ensign Abel Dottin William Best, recorded the species as still quite common in 1838, with his journals mentioning his successful hunting of 72 birds, including 25 on 18 September 1838. The last sighting occurred in 1901. Direct hunting by humans was probably the dominant cause of extinction.

Coextinction of its parasites Along with the bird, two of its parasites went extinct. The parasites are given below:

Coloceras hemiphagae Coloceras restinctus

Memorials The Government of Norfolk Island released a stamp commemorating the bird on 24 February 1971.

References

External links A painting of a Norfolk Island Pigeon by Paul Martinson at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Norfolk pigeon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Norfolk pigeon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Norfolk pigeon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Norfolk pigeon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Norfolk pigeon

In research: Norfolk pigeon appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Norfolk pigeon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Norfolk pigeon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds described in 1801, Extinct birds of Norfolk Island, Hemiphaga, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Norfolk pigeon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Norfolk pigeon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Norfolk pigeon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Norfolk pigeon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Norfolk pigeon in simple terms?

Why does Norfolk pigeon matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Norfolk pigeon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Norfolk pigeon.