The Socorro dove may look unassuming. With a fluffy brown coat and pink feet, the dove species could be mistaken for an average city pigeon by the untrained eye. But the Mexican birds are extinct in the wild, and much of the remaining Socorro dove population lives at the Albuquerque BioPark Zoo.

With 26 birds, the BioPark has the biggest breeding program in North America for the island-dwelling doves. The zoo is part of an international effort to save the Socorro dove from extinction so that it can be reintroduced in the wild to its native Socorro Island off of Mexico’s western coast.

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Cathy Cook is a news reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at [email protected].