Dodo

the dodo bird was a very rare and now extinct animal.

Description
The dodo was a large bird, measuring about a meter high and weighing perhaps 23 kilograms or more. The view of dodos as fat and clumsy, however, was probably brought about because the original illustrations were of captive and overfed specimens.

Its wings were small and vestigal because at the time, Mauritius had no predators on the land, so the dodo would have no need to fly. This ended up being a disadvantage when humans arrived.

The dodo's head had a large bill, which may have been brightly colored. Examination of the remaining feathers on one specimen suggests they were downy feathers instead of plumaceous.

All assumptions and observations of the dodo's appearance come from illustrations made previously and written accounts, although they are not always accurate. One such account from the Van Neck expedition is as follows:

"Blue parrots are very numerous there, as well as other birds; among which are a kind, conspicuous for their size, larger than our swans, with huge heads only half covered with skin as if clothed with a hood. These birds lack wings, in the place of which 3 or 4 blackish feathers protrude. The tail consists of a few soft incurved feathers, which are ash coloured. These we used to call 'Walghvogel', for the reason that the longer and oftener they were cooked, the less soft and more insipid eating they became. Nevertheless their belly and breast were of a pleasant flavour and easily masticated."

- Description of the dodo

The "white dodo" of Réunion is now thought to be a misinterpretation of the Réunion Sacred Ibis or a similar bird.

Classification
Dodos were originally thought to have evolved from vultures or ostriches, until they were shown to have been a type of ground dove in 1846, which has been confirmed by DNA analysis.

Diet and Behavior
Only one source accounts the diet of the dodo, now lost:

"These Burgmeesters are superb and proud. They displayed themselves to us with stiff and stern faces, and wide-open mouths. Jaunty and audacious of gait, they would scarcely move a foot before us. Their war weapon was their mouth, with which they could bite fiercely; their food was fruit; they were not well feathered but abundantly covered with fat. Many of them were brought onboard to the delight of us all."

- Unknown source

The dodo is also known to have used gizzard stones.

It is believed that dodos laid only one egg per clutch, in a grassy nest, within their coastal forest habitat.

Discovery and extinction
When dodos were first recorded in 1598, the main appeal that they possessed was driven by cooking. Apparently their meat was tough but palatable, but not as good as that of the native pigeons. Three or four live birds were taken off the island and brought to London.

Although the dodo's relative fearlessness and inherent flightlessness would have made it easy prey to humans, that was not the direct cause of the dodo's demise. Animals brought on ships, including pigs and rats, ate their eggs and trampled their nests while the forest around them was urbanized. This was believed to have been a more severe effect than human hunting. All dodos had become extinct by 1681.

Remains
All that remains of the dodo today are bones and dried heads or appendages. Many specimens have been destroyed since they became extinct, mainly because of decay or even because they were suspected of being hoaxes.

Popular culture
Since the dodo first appeared in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it became a famous icon of extinction ---hence the saying "dead as a dodo". They have appeared in advertisements, television shows (such as Primeval), and even the Mauritius coat of arms.