Maria Tuala was clearing weeds from her family’s taro patch when she heard it—a deep, guttural cooing that made her freeze mid-swing. Her grandmother had described that exact sound decades ago, back when the old woman was still telling stories about the manumea that once filled Samoa’s forests. “Impossible,” Maria whispered, but the sound came again, drifting down from the canopy above.
What Maria heard that morning in October 2025 would soon electrify the scientific world. After five years of silence, the manumea—a stocky, mysterious pigeon that shares ancestry with the famous dodo—had announced its survival in the most unexpected way.
This dodo cousin extinction story isn’t just about one bird beating the odds. It’s reshaping how we think about species on the brink, the role of local communities in conservation, and whether we’re too quick to write obituaries for creatures we barely understand.
The Ghost Bird That Refused to Disappear
The manumea looks nothing like the flightless, clumsy dodo most people picture. This Pacific pigeon is built like a feathered tank—deep chest, powerful wings, and a distinctive “toothed” beak that can crack the hardest seeds. But both birds belong to the same evolutionary family tree, making the manumea one of the dodo’s closest living relatives.
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For years, scientists tracked a steady decline. Habitat loss, introduced cats, and hunting pressure pushed the species toward what seemed like inevitable extinction. The last confirmed sighting was in 2020, and by 2025, many experts had quietly moved the manumea into the “probably extinct” category.
“We were preparing memorial papers,” admits Dr. Sarah Paterson, a conservation biologist who has studied Pacific island birds for two decades. “The silence was just too complete, too long.”
Then came the forest of Uafato. Field teams working in this remote corner of Upolu island started reporting the same thing: a chunky pigeon moving through the upper branches, making calls that matched historical recordings of the manumea. The birds stayed high in the canopy, making photography nearly impossible, but multiple independent observers described identical behaviors and features.
What Makes This Discovery So Remarkable
The manumea’s apparent survival highlights several critical factors that conservation scientists are now studying more closely:
- Microhabitat refuges: Small pockets of pristine forest can support populations that surveys miss entirely
- Behavioral adaptations: The birds may have become more secretive and altered their calling patterns
- Community knowledge: Local residents often notice changes that formal monitoring programs overlook
- Technology gaps: Traditional bird surveys may fail to detect highly cryptic species
The discovery also showcases how modern technology and traditional knowledge can work together. An AI system trained to recognize bird calls first flagged suspicious audio from the Uafato region in May 2025. That digital alert prompted researchers to take local sighting reports more seriously.
| Detection Method | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional surveys | 2020-2024 | No confirmed sightings |
| AI audio analysis | May 2025 | High probability detection |
| Community reports | October-November 2025 | Multiple independent sightings |
| Expert verification | December 2025 | Confirmed species survival |
“The AI didn’t replace human expertise—it amplified it,” explains Dr. James Molina, who helped develop the bird call recognition system. “It told us where to look, and then local knowledge told us what we were actually seeing.”
Why This Matters Beyond Samoa
The manumea’s story is playing out across the Pacific and other island regions worldwide. Small populations of endemic species often slip through the cracks of conservation monitoring, leading to premature extinction declarations.
This has real consequences for funding and protection efforts. Once a species is considered extinct, resources typically shift to other priorities. The manumea’s reappearance suggests that dozens of other “lost” species might still be clinging to survival in overlooked corners of their historic ranges.
The dodo cousin extinction narrative also raises uncomfortable questions about conservation triage. How long should we keep looking for species that seem gone? How much certainty do we need before declaring something extinct?
“Every premature obituary is a tragedy,” says Dr. Elena Vasquez, who studies island extinctions. “But so is wasting limited resources on truly hopeless cases while other species slip away unnoticed.”
For Samoa specifically, the manumea’s survival offers both hope and urgent challenges. The remaining population is clearly tiny—probably fewer than 50 individuals based on the limited sightings. Without immediate protection measures, this dodo cousin could still vanish within years.
Local conservation groups are now working with village chiefs to establish community-based protection zones around the Uafato forest. They’re also training residents to recognize and report manumea sightings, turning the human network that helped rediscover the species into its first line of defense.
The Race Against Time Begins
Maria Tuala has become an unlikely conservation hero. Her willingness to report what she heard, despite skepticism from others, helped confirm that the manumea still exists. Now she’s part of a growing network of community monitors watching over the forest that might represent the species’ last stand.
“My grandmother would say the birds never really left,” Maria reflects. “They were just waiting for us to listen properly.”
That patient listening might be exactly what saves this dodo cousin from following its famous relative into extinction. But time is running short, and the forest of Uafato holds secrets that the scientific world is only beginning to understand.
FAQs
What is the manumea and how is it related to the dodo?
The manumea is a large pigeon species endemic to Samoa that shares evolutionary ancestry with the extinct dodo. Both belong to the family of pigeons and doves, making the manumea one of the dodo’s closest living relatives.
How long was the manumea thought to be extinct?
The last confirmed sighting was in 2020, and after five years of no verified observations, many scientists feared it had gone extinct before being rediscovered in 2025.
Where was the manumea rediscovered?
Multiple sightings were reported in the forest of Uafato, located on the northeastern side of Upolu island in Samoa, during October and November 2025.
How many manumea birds are thought to survive?
Based on the limited sightings and historical population data, experts estimate fewer than 50 individuals remain, making it critically endangered.
What role did technology play in the rediscovery?
An AI system trained to recognize bird calls first detected potential manumea vocalizations in May 2025, which prompted researchers to investigate local sighting reports more seriously.
What’s being done to protect the remaining manumea population?
Conservation groups are working with local village chiefs to establish community-based protection zones and training residents to monitor and report sightings of the species.
