Tooth-billed Pigeon

Didunculus strigirostris

Samoa's national bird and the dodo's closest living relative. Fewer than 200 remain — every flight matters.

Population: 50-150 mature individuals per the current (2025) BirdLife/IUCN assessment, decreasing trend — down from an estimated ~500 individuals in 2005-2006 and ~4,800-7,200 in the mid-1980s. Older assessments (e.g. the 2019 IUCN listing reflected on Wikipedia) cite a wider 70-380 individuals; the 2025 figure is the current authoritative one and should supersede it.
Habitat: Primary (undisturbed) subtropical/tropical moist forest, sea level to ~1,600 m, with an apparent preference for coastal forest and forest edges
Fun fact: Nicknamed the "little dodo" (its genus name Didunculus means exactly that) — genetic studies place it, along with the Nicobar pigeon, among the closest living relatives of the extinct dodo and Rodrigues solitaire, and it shares the dodo's large hooked bill.
Range: Endemic to Samoa — found only on Upolu and Savai'i (historically also small islets e.g. Nu'ulua); Extent of Occurrence commonly cited as approx. 2,800 km² (could not directly re-confirm this exact figure this session)
Diet: Primarily granivorous: uses its distinctive large hooked, tooth-notched bill to crack open and eat the seeds of Dysoxylum trees (mahogany family), supplemented with other fleshy native forest fruits — not a simple fruit-pulp frugivore
Size: 0.31 m

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