 The dodo was a bird species that went extinct during the mid-17th century. It belonged to the same family as pigeons and doves. Bigger than a turkey, it was about a metre tall, and weighed about 20 kilograms. 
The dodo could only be found on Mauritius, an island located in the Indian Ocean. No photograph nor fully complete skeleton exists of this flightless bird, however, researchers believe it was covered with grey to brown-colored feathers. Its head is believed to have been bald and it had extra plumage around its tail. The dodo bird is perhaps most recognized by the large, bulbous tip on its hooked beak. 
The dodo bird is often used as a symbol of the lasting damage humans can have on the environment and animal survival rates. Its iconic status as a symbol of species extinction is due to how rapidly this species went extinct after first being discovered by European explorers. After only about 100 years, the dodo bird ceased to exist in the wild. All that remains of the dodo is a head and foot at Oxford, a foot in the British Museum, a head in Copenhagen, and skeletons, mostly incomplete, in various museums of Europe, the United States, and Mauritius. One theory that explains the dodo bird's disappearance is that it was hunted to extinction. Apparently the bird was largely unafraid of humans when it was first discovered. This lack of fear was the result of a lack of natural predators on the island of Mauritius. It faced European explorers with curiosity rather than fear. This behaviour, combined with its inability to fly, made the dodo an easy target for human hunters, and it quickly became a staple in the diet of European sailors.  However, scientists now believe that there was another reason for the dodo's demise. European sailors brought with them a number of invasive species, including rats, cats, pigs, and dogs. As they began to roam free throughout the island, they reproduced on a large scale and began to hunt local food sources, one of which was the dodo bird's eggs, which were located on the ground and easy to find; dodo birds laid only one large egg at a time. This negatively affected the ability of the dodo bird to reproduce.  In 2005, researchers found evidence that a large number of dodo birds had been killed during a flash flood on the island. This disaster, combined with the previously mentioned factors, made it even less likely that the species could survive.Their lack of fear of humans, combined with their inquisitive nature, led people to believe that they were not very smart birds, making the term 'dodo' synonymous with 'stupid'. However, there is no evidence that dodos were any less intelligent than any other similar type of bird. |