Pink pigeons live mainly inside Black River Gorges National Park. They have soft, pale-pink feathers on their body and darker wings, with a red ring around each eye. They feed on fruit, seeds and leaves in the forest canopy.
The reason they almost disappeared was that their forest home shrank and new animals - rats and mongooses - ate their eggs and chicks. Scientists and wildlife rangers set up nest boxes, fed the birds extra food, and removed threats from around their nesting areas. Chicks raised safely were released back into the wild.
The pink pigeon rescue worked so well that it became a model for saving other rare birds around the world. Gerald Durrell, a famous wildlife writer who loved Mauritius, helped draw attention to the pink pigeon's plight. His work, and the work of Mauritian conservationists, showed that with effort and care, a species can come back from the very edge.