Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Two Socorro dove chicks have hatched at Barcelona Zoo. The bird is an endemic species to Mexico but has not been found in the wild for nearly forty years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) also lists the species as extinct in the wild.

The causes behind this dove species becoming extinct in its natural habitat, Socorro Island, in the Revillagigedo Islands, off the west coast of Mexico, were the presence of goats, which degenerated its habitat, the presence of cats, which preyed on the species, and introduction of invasive plant species.

Barcelona Zoo participates in the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), to protect and reproduce threatened species. Two male Socorro doves arrived from Heidelberg Zoo (Germany) in 2019, and in September two females arrived from Zagreb Zoo (Croatia) to mate with them. The international breeding programme for the species currently has just over 200 individuals, 161 of them in zoos in Europe and 69 in zoos in the USA.