The Dodo Bird

You've probably heard the expression 'dumb as a dodo bird.' Is a dodo bird really dumb? Or, for that matter, does the dodo bird even exist in real life? Some considered the bird to be a myth.

The dodo is an extinct flightless bird native to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Not only were they flightless, their existence was also restricted to Mauritius because they weren't suited to the ocean. Unlike penguins, another flightless bird, the dodo did not have flippers or webbed feet allowing them to navigate the ocean.

The first recorded mention of the dodo was by Dutch sailors in 1598. During the ensuing years, it was hunted by sailors as a food source and also by invading species that arrived with the sailor's ships such as cats and pigs. Other invading species also included the rats that arrived as 'stowaways' on the ships. The last widely accepted sighting of a dodo was in 1662. Its rush toward extinction wasn't immediately noticed. Long held beliefs said the bird's extinction was due to over hunting by man.

Fossil remains show the dodo stood about 2-2.5ft tall and may have weighed 23-39 pounds. What the dodo actually looked like relies on paintings, drawings, and written accounts from the 17^th century. The portraits varied widely from one artist to another. Since only some of the illustrations are known to have been drawn from live specimens, the dodo's exact appearance is uncertain.

A large amount of subfossil has been collected on Mauritius, mostly from the swamp area. The extinction of the dodo less than a century after its discovery brought a considerable amount of attention to the previously unrecognized problem of human involvement in the disappearance of entire species. A recent concept holds that the extinction of the dodo bird was not due primarily to hunting my man. Since the dodo was flightless, its nests were on the ground rather than up in the tree branches. A more accepted theory is their extinction was greatly hastened by the raiding of their nests and destruction of their eggs primarily by rats that quickly colonized the island.

Current studies are under way to attempt the recreation/resurrection of the dodo from DNA found in a dodo skull combined with DNA from the dodo's closest living relative, the Nicobar pigeon.

The dodo achieved widespread recognition from its role in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. It has also become a fixture in popular culture, often as a symbol of extinction and obsolescence.