Flame-breasted Fruit Dove
Also known as: Ptilinopus marchei (scientific name) · Marche's fruit dove (historical name)
Definition
The flame-breasted fruit dove (Ptilinopus marchei) is a large, striking fruit dove endemic to the mountains of Luzon in the Philippines, the male unmistakable with a blazing orange-red breast patch bordered by white against green wings, while the female is greener overall. Inhabiting montane and mossy forest where it swallows figs and laurel fruits whole, it is one of the island’s signature highland pigeons and is considered near-threatened as logging pushes upslope into its cloud-forest strongholds. (Wikipedia)
Identities
| Source Type | Identity |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Flame-breasted fruit dove |
| Wikidata | Q886790 |
| DBpedia | N/A |
| ProductOntology | N/A |
| Wiktionary | N/A |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) | N/A |
| MeSH | N/A |
| NCBI Taxonomy | Ptilinopus marchei |
| AGROVOC | montane forests |
| Google Scholar | Ptilinopus marchei flame-breasted fruit dove Luzon montane endemic conservation frugivore |
| ConceptNet | dove |
| OpenCyc | N/A |
Also Known As
- Ptilinopus marchei (scientific name)
- Marche’s fruit dove (historical name)
Examples and Analogies
- Mountain Ember: Among the green gloom of mossy forest, the male’s orange breast flashes like a live coal, an effect amplified at dawn feeding trees.
- Fig Ambassador: Like other fruit doves, it functions as a courier service for fig trees, carrying seeds from crown to crown across ridges no plane of forest could connect.
Usage Scenarios
1. Montane Birding
It is a flagship target along Luzon’s mountain trails in the Cordillera, Sierra Madre, and Zambales highlands.
2. Frugivore Studies
Researchers include it when quantifying how dove communities move seeds through Philippine montane forests.
Strategies
- Protect contiguous mid- and high-elevation forest on Luzon, especially fig-rich ridges that anchor dove movements.
- Control hunting pressure through community agreements in upland towns where large doves are still trapped for food.
Security and Safety Measures
- Hunters should note that all Philippine fruit doves are covered by wildlife regulations; subsistence trapping rules and closed seasons apply.
- Montane surveys must prepare for cold, wet conditions and steep terrain typical of the dove’s habitat.
Historical Context
The species bears the name of French explorer Antoine Marche, whose late nineteenth-century Philippine collections introduced many montane birds to science, and it was described during that era of highland exploration. Subsequent expeditions along the Cordillera and Sierra Madre established its preference for cloud forest above the lowland dove fauna, and late twentieth-century conservation assessments designated it near-threatened as Philippine montane forests came under increasing logging and conversion pressure. (Wikipedia)
Challenges and Controversies
Upslope Logging
Timber harvesting and vegetable-farm expansion climb ever higher into mossy forest, squeezing montane specialists.
Local Hunting
Large doves remain seasonal quarry in some upland communities, adding pressure to habitat loss.