Dodo

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was an extinct flightless bird that lived only on the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It was closely related to another extinct bird called the Rodrigues solitaire, and both belonged to a group of birds related to pigeons and doves. Scientists believe the closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon.

We know about the dodo mostly from old drawings, paintings, and written descriptions from the 1600s. It was about as tall as a person, with brown-grey plumage, yellow feet, and a special beak. The dodo likely ate fruits and used small stones called gizzard stones to help digest its food. It probably laid just one egg at a time. The dodo lost the ability to fly because it had plenty of food and few dangers on its island home.

Dutch sailors first saw the dodo in 1598. Sadly, the bird did not survive long after that. People hunted them, brought harmful animals to the island, and destroyed their homes. The last known dodo was seen in 1662. The dodo’s disappearance was one of the first times people realized that humans could cause entire species to vanish. Today, the dodo is famous for appearing in the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and is often remembered as a symbol of loss and change.

Taxonomy

Early scientists had different ideas about what kind of bird the dodo was. Some thought it was like an ostrich, a rail, an albatross, or a vulture. In 1842, a scientist named Johannes Theodor Reinhardt studied a dodo skull and said it was a ground pigeon. This idea was laughed at first but later supported by other scientists.

These scientists saw that the dodo looked a lot like pigeons, especially its beak and legs. They also found that the dodo and another extinct bird called the Rodrigues solitaire were very closely related. Both birds were placed in a group with pigeons and doves.

The dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire were once thought to be in their own special family of birds. But newer studies using DNA have shown they belong to a subgroup within the pigeon family. In 2024, they were given a new subgroup name called Raphina, which includes only these two birds.

Evolution

In 2002, scientists studied DNA from a dodo specimen and confirmed its close relation to the Rodrigues solitaire. They found that the closest living relative of these birds is the Nicobar pigeon from Southeast Asia. Other close relatives include crowned pigeons from New Guinea and a tooth-billed pigeon from Samoa.

The ancestors of the dodo and the solitaire split from other pigeons about 23 million years ago. The islands they lived on, called the Mascarene Islands, are very young, formed by volcanoes less than 10 million years ago. This means the dodo's ancestors could still fly when they first arrived on these islands. Without large mammals eating them, these birds grew very big and eventually lost the ability to fly.

Etymology

The dodo had many names over time. Dutch explorers called them "Walghvoghel," meaning "tasteless bird," because they preferred eating pigeons instead. Some called them "Dronte," meaning "swollen." The word "dodo" itself might come from a Dutch word meaning "sluggard" or "fat-arse," referring to the feathers on its tail. Others think it might imitate the bird's call, sounding like "doo-doo." The scientific name Raphus cucullatus was given later by scientists to describe this unique bird.

Description

We do not have complete dodo specimens, so it is hard to know exactly what they looked like. Old drawings and written stories from when people first saw dodos help us learn about their appearance. Most pictures show dodos with grey or brown feathers, lighter feathers on their wings, and a tuft of curly feathers at the back. Their heads were bare and grey, with green, black, and yellow beaks, and strong yellow legs with black claws. Studies of the few remaining feathers suggest they were like those of other pigeons.

Fossils and remains show that dodos were large birds, about 62.6 to 75 cm tall. Males were bigger than females, with longer beaks. Weight guesses change, but they were likely between 10.2 kg and 27.8 kg, depending on the season and if they were fed extra food in captivity.

The dodo’s skull was different from other pigeons. It had a strong beak with a hooked tip and a short head part. The beak was nearly twice as long as the head part. The nose holes were long and did not have a bony wall between them. The back of the skull sloped down, and the eye sockets were large. The eyes had small bones around them, like other pigeons.

Dodos had about nineteen neck and upper back bones, sixteen lower back and hip bones, six free tail bones, and a small bone at the end of the tail. Their necks had areas for muscles to help support their heavy heads and beaks. They had six ribs on each side, four of which connected to the breastbone. The breastbone was large but smaller compared to flying pigeons. The shoulder and wing bones were smaller and thinner than in flying pigeons but still present. The dodo’s leg bones were thicker than those of flying pigeons, but their lengths were similar. Many of these bone features show that dodos could not fly and had to support their weight on the ground.

Most stories about dodos come from old ship logs and journals from Dutch sailors who visited Mauritius. These records helped future trips. Not all stories are reliable, as some were based on earlier tales. One early story from 1598 describes dodos as large birds, bigger than swans, with small wings and soft tail feathers. Another detailed story from 1634 talks about dodos having round bodies, small wings, and strong legs.

The only known sketches of live dodos were found in a Dutch ship’s journal from 1601 to 1603. These drawings help us imagine what dodos looked like. Many old drawings of dodos may have been based on overfed or stuffed birds, which could make them look fatter than they really were. One famous drawing from 1626 by Roelant Savery is often used as the standard image of a dodo, but it shows a very fat bird.

An Indian painting from the 17th century found in 1955 shows a slimmer dodo with brown feathers. Experts think this might be one of the most accurate pictures of a live dodo. Later drawings of dodos were often based on older images, making it hard to know exactly what they looked like.

Behaviour and ecology

Little is known about how the dodo behaved because most old descriptions are short. Scientists think male dodos could live up to 21 years, and females up to 17 years. Their legs were strong and helped them move easily in the forests before humans arrived. Though their wings were small, they were used for balance and showing off, similar to how pigeons today use their wings. The dodo may have used its large, hooked beak to defend itself. Because Mauritius had more rain and less season change than nearby islands, the dodo did not need to fight for space as much as other birds.

The dodo likely lived in the woods along the drier coastal areas of south and west Mauritius. This idea is supported by the fact that most dodo bones were found near a swamp close to the sea. Some scientists think this island was l'île aux Bénitiers in Tamarin Bay on the west coast of Mauritius. Bones have also been found in caves in the mountains, showing that dodos once lived there too. Work at the Mare aux Songes swamp shows that the area was full of tambalacoque and Pandanus trees and endemic palms.

Many special animals on Mauritius went extinct after humans arrived, so the island's ecosystem is badly damaged. Before humans came, Mauritius was completely covered in forests, but very little forest remains today because of cutting down trees. The surviving special animals are still in danger. The dodo lived with other recently extinct Mauritian birds such as the flightless red rail, the broad-billed parrot, the Mascarene grey parakeet, the Mauritius blue pigeon, the Mauritius scops owl, the Mascarene coot, the Mauritian shelduck, the Mauritian duck, and the Mauritius night heron. Extinct Mauritian reptiles include the saddle-backed Mauritius giant tortoise, the domed Mauritius giant tortoise, the Mauritian giant skink, and the Round Island burrowing boa. The small Mauritian flying fox and the snail Tropidophora carinata lived on Mauritius and Réunion but disappeared from both islands. Some plants, such as Casearia tinifolia and the palm orchid, have also gone extinct.

Diet and feeding

A 1631 Dutch letter is the only record of what the dodo ate. It also says the dodo used its beak to defend itself. Besides fallen fruit, the dodo probably also ate nuts, seeds, bulbs, and roots. Scientists think it may have eaten crabs and shellfish, like their relatives the crowned pigeons. The dodo likely ate many kinds of food. Because Mauritius has dry and wet seasons, the dodo may have eaten lots of ripe fruit at the end of the wet season to survive the dry season, when food was scarce.

Parts of the dodo's upper jaw could move, which helped it eat. The dodo's beak also seems strong enough to eat hard foods. Old writings say the dodo used Gastroliths (gizzard stones) to help digest food.

In 1973, the tambalacoque tree was thought to be dying out on Mauritius. But later finds showed that the tree's seeds could grow without help. Since 1991, the tree has grown again and there are now several hundred.

Reproduction and development

Because the dodo could not fly and there were no mammals or other natural enemies on Mauritius, it probably nested on the ground.

Because the dodo laid only one egg and was big, scientists think it had few baby birds that needed care to grow up. A 2017 study suggested dodos bred around August, maybe after getting fat. The baby birds grew fast, getting close to adult size, and reached full maturity before the Austral summer or cyclone season. Adult dodos that had just bred lost their feathers after Austral summer, around March. The wing and tail feathers fell out first, and all new feathers grew by the end of July, ready for the next breeding season.

Relationship with humans

Mauritius was visited by Arab and Portuguese ships, but the Dutch settled the island in 1598. Dutch travelers in 1598 were the first to write about the dodo. Sailors who had been at sea for a long time were interested in these birds for food. Some did not like the taste of dodo meat and ate parrots and pigeons instead. Dodos were easy to catch because they had no fear of humans and could not fly.

People brought some dodos to Europe and other places. Some paintings and writings from that time show dodos that may have been taken to Europe. One dodo was sent to Japan as a gift.

The dodo had no natural predators before humans arrived, which made it very trusting. Humans brought animals like rats, pigs, and cats to the island. These animals attacked dodo nests. Humans also cut down forests where dodos lived. These changes caused the dodo to disappear.

The last known sighting of a dodo was in 1662. The dodo was likely gone by 1700, about 100 years after humans first saw it. Scientists did not widely accept that the dodo had gone extinct until the 1800s.

Physical remains

17th-century specimens

We know very little about the dodo birds brought to Europe in the 1600s. Some remains include a dried head and foot kept in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and a lost foot once in the British Museum. There are also a skull in the University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum and an upper jaw in the National Museum, Prague. These were found and identified in the 1800s. Some old records mention stuffed dodos, but none have survived.

Scientists studied the Oxford head and found small pieces of metal inside, called lead shot. This shows the dodo was likely shot before it was brought to Britain. We do not know exactly how it was killed.

Subfossil specimens

Before 1860, the only dodo remains known were from the 1600s. In 1860, Philip Burnard Ayres found the first ancient dodo bones. These were sent to Richard Owen. Later, in 1865, George Clark found more dodo bones in a swamp called Mare aux Songes in Mauritius. These bones helped scientists learn more about the dodo.

Over time, many more dodo bones were found in different places in Mauritius. Today, many museums around the world have collections of these dodo bones.

The white dodo

The idea of a "white dodo" from the island of Réunion began with old stories and paintings. Long ago, people wrote about seeing fat, flightless birds there, which they called "Dod-eersen." Later, paintings of white birds that looked like dodos were found, adding to the confusion.

Scientists once thought these paintings showed a special kind of dodo, but now we know they were likely based on old artwork or birds that were mistaken for dodos. Recent discoveries of bird fossils from Réunion match descriptions of white and black birds with slender beaks, but these were not dodos. No dodo bones have ever been found on the island.

Cultural significance

The dodo is one of the most famous extinct animals. Its unique look has made it a popular symbol in stories and culture. People often use the dodo to represent something that is old or no longer exists. For example, something that is "dead as a dodo" means it is completely gone, and "to go the way of the dodo" means to become extinct.

The dodo appears in many books and movies. It was even featured in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in 1865. The dodo is also used as a symbol in Mauritius, where it appears on coins, banknotes, and the country's coat of arms. The dodo helps raise awareness about protecting animals that are in danger of disappearing.