Treasure of the month: The turtle dove

20 February 2020

Photo: UHH/CeNak, Steinkröger

In the hunters' crosshairs: the turtle dove - our treasure of the month.

Displaced by industrial agriculture. Hunted by man. The turtle dove is becoming increasingly rare. In Germany alone, their population has declined by around 90 percent in the last 40 years. At the Museum of Nature - Zoologie, our Treasure of the Month can currently be found in a special showcase for the Bird of the Year 2020. Together with NABU, we would like to draw attention to the plight in which the only migratory bird among the native pigeons currently finds itself.

A target sight has the turtle dove in the display case precisely focused. A fate that usually ends fatally for them in the wild: 1.4 to 2.2 million of them are shot every year in the EU - so far completely legally. Because in ten European states, such as Spain or France, hunting them is still permitted. For this reason, NABU is campaigning with the help of a petition for the species to be better protected in the future.

The Turtle Dove - our Treasure of the Month for February - is on loan from the Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch in Oldenburg. It is an adult female that the curator estimates was taxidermied as early as the 19th century and thus may have witnessed the museum's beginnings in 1836. But the LIB collection also holds some turtle dove treasures: A total of 33 objects, including feathers, skulls and entire taxidermy specimens, can be found in the ornithology rooms. Early finds also date from the late 19th century and come from various parts of the species' range, such as Turkey, Hungary and Germany.

A switch on the display case makes it coo - or in the case of the turtle dove, rather, "coo." The sound of the turtledove seems more delicate, but also somewhat more monotonous than that of its conspecifics, which we know well from the city. An almost purred, deep "turrr-turrr-turrr" is their song - through which they also came to their onomatopoeic, scientific name Streptopelia turtur.

Further information

CeNak-News: Turteltaube Vogel des Jahres 2020
Webseite des NABU zum Vogel des Jahres 2020