Christmas Imperial Pigeon

Open encyclopedia reference

The Christmas imperial pigeon or Christmas Island imperial pigeon (Ducula whartoni), also known as Black imperial pigeon, Dusky imperial pigeon, Wharton's imperial pigeon, or burong pergam, is a large imperial pigeon endemic to Christmas Island in the northeastern Indian Ocean. It has an overall grey-blue colouration, and juveniles are duller than adults. It makes a soft purring coo sound and a deeper whoo sound comparable to a cow mooing. It lays one glossy white egg per brood, and is possibly somewhat colonial.

Other than the Christmas Island flying fox, the Christmas imperial pigeon is the only fruit-eating (frugivorous) animal on the island, and the pigeon feeds and nests in the dense canopy. It mainly inhabits the tropical inland plateau, and widespread non-native Jamaican cherry forests. It was previously thought to be in danger of extinction due to habitat loss and invasive species (specifically the yellow crazy ant), but it is now considered to be rather common, with a breeding population of about 5,000.

Wikipedia contributors, Christmas imperial pigeon; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:11:30.664346+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Ducula whartoni (Sharpe, 1887)

Name authority

(Sharpe, 1887)

Common name

Christmas Imperial Pigeon

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Columbiformes

Family

Columbidae

Genus

Ducula

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderColumbiformes
10. familyColumbidae
11. subfamilyRaphinae
12. genusDucula Hodgson, 1836
13. speciesDucula whartoni (Sharpe, 1887)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Ducula. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 279 records assigned to Columbidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=177392 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:6DPCD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.