Dodo

The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is a species of extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, a small island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest extinct relative is the also extinct Rodrigues Solitaire and its closest extant relative is the Nicobar pigeon. The two species formed the subfamily Raphinae, a clade of extinct flightless birds that were part of the family which includes pigeons and doves.

Description[]

A diagram comparing the size of a dodo compared to a human — Size compared to a human

The species died out before 1700, less than a hundred years after encountering men. A white dodo was once thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion, but this is now thought to have been confusion based on the Réunion ibis and paintings of white dodos.

Subfossil remains show the dodo was about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) tall and may have weighed 10.6–21.1 kg (23–47 lb) in the wild. The dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century. Because these vary considerably, and because only some illustrations are known to have been drawn from live specimens, its exact appearance in life remains unresolved. Similarly, little is known with certainty about its habitat and behavior.

It has been depicted with brownish-grey plumage, yellow feet, a tuft of tail feathers, a grey, naked head, and a black, yellow, and green beak. It used gizzard stones to help digest its food, which is thought to have included fruits, and its main habitat is believed to have been the woods in the drier coastal areas of Mauritius. One account states its clutch consisted of a single egg. It is presumed that the dodo became flightless because of the ready availability of abundant food sources and a relative absence of predators on Mauritius.

The first recorded mention of the dodo was by Dutch sailors in 1598. In the following years, the bird was hunted by sailors and invasive species, while its habitat was being destroyed. The last widely accepted sighting of a dodo was in 1662. Its extinction was not immediately noticed, and some considered it to be a mythical creature. In the 19th century, research was conducted on a small quantity of remains of four specimens that had been brought to Europe in the early 17th century. Among these is a dried head, the only soft tissue of the dodo that remains today. Since then, a large amount of subfossil material has been collected on Mauritius, mostly from the Mare aux Songes swamp. The extinction of the dodo within less than a century of its discovery called attention to the previously unrecognized problem of human involvement in the disappearance of entire species.

Extinction[]

Colour illustration of men pursuing dodos — Illustration of Dutch sailors pursuing dodos, by Walter Paget, 1914. Hunting by humans is not believed to have been the main cause of the bird's extinction.

When sailors found the Madagascar island, they described the birds as fat, clumsy and stupid. Dodos had no natural predators and ate plants and seeds on their island. Dodo and the Rodrigues Solitaire make up the group Raphinae, both birds are extinct, however. Shortly after the discovery of the island, the Dodo was over hunted and went extinct.

Classification[]

Goura victoria (Victoria crowned pigeon)

Caloenas nicobarica (Nicobar pigeon)

	Pezophaps solitaria (Rodrigues solitaire)

	Raphus cucullatus (dodo)

Didunculus strigirostris (tooth-billed pigeon)

Appearance in other media[]

Jurassic Park[]

The Dodo makes a small appearance in Jurassic World: The Game as a food source for some of the Cenozoic animals, such as Andrewsarchus.
It also appears in Jurassic Park: Builder as a limited herbivore in the Glacier Park.
It appears in Jurassic World Alive as a flock creature.

Read more Dodo on Jurassic Park Wiki

Dodo

Contents

Description[]

Extinction[]

Classification[]

Appearance in other media[]

Jurassic Park[]

References[]