Like other fruit doves, this dove lays a single white egg. Both parents help sit on the egg and raise the chick.

Marianas fruit doves are threatened with extinction on their native islands. This threat is caused, in part, by tree snakes that have been introduced into their habitat. Habitat destruction has also taken its toll. They are already extinct on one native island, Guam.

In 1993 the Saint Louis Zoo participated in a program to capture wild doves. They are being bred in captivity to help save the species.