Dodo Fossil range: Late Holocene
Dodo reconstruction reflecting new research at Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Conservation status
Extinct  (late 17th century) (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae Subfamily: †Raphinae Genus: †Raphus Brisson, 1760 Species: †R. The Holocene is a Geological epoch which began approximately 10000 years ago (about 8000 BC The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a Museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future In Biology and Ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a Species or group of taxa. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. The Bird order Columbiformes includes the very widespread and successful Doves and pigeons, classified in the family Columbidae and the The Raphinae are a Subfamily of Extinct Flightless birds colloquially called didines or didine birds Mathurin Jacques Brisson ( 30 April 1723 &ndash 23 June 1806) was a French Zoologist and natural philosopher cucullatus
Binomial name
†Raphus cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Former range (in red)
Synonyms
Struthio cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758 Didus ineptus Linnaeus 1766

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Carl Linnaeus (Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as, May 23 new style (13 May old style 1707 who laid the foundations for In Scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different Scientific names used for a single Taxon. Flightless birds are birds which lack the ability to fly relying instead on their ability to run or swim and are thought to have evolved from their flying ancestors Endemism is the Ecological state of being unique to a place Endemic species are not naturally found elsewhere The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface Mauritius (pronounced məˈrɪʃəs L’île Maurice /il mɔ'ʁis/ Mauritian Creole: Maurice) officially the Republic of Mauritius, République Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a metre (three feet) tall, weighing about 20 kilograms (44 pounds), living on fruit and nesting on the ground. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit

The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. This page refers only to birds that have gone extinct since the year 1500 A ^[1] It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly attributable to human activity. The adjective phrase "as dead as a dodo" means undoubtedly and unquestionably dead. The phrase "to go the way of the dodo" means to become extinct or obsolete, to fall out of common usage or practice, or to become a thing of the past.

Etymology

Probably the earliest accurate drawings of a dodo (1601–1603).

The etymology of the word dodo is not clear. Etymology is the study of the History of Words &mdash when they entered a language from what source and how their form and meaning have changed over time However, there is a consensus that the name is probably pejorative. Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt Some ascribe it to the Dutch word dodoor for "sluggard". It may be related to dodaers ("plump-arse"), the Dutch name of the Little Grebe. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The Little Grebe ( Tachybaptus ruficollis, formerly known as Dabchick) is 23 to 29 cm in length The connection may have been made because of similar feathers of the hind end or because both animals were ungainly. However, the Dutch are also known to have called the Mauritius bird the walghvogel ("loathsome bird" or "nauseating fowl") in reference to its taste. This last name was used for the first time in the journal of vice-admiral Wybrand van Warwijck who visited and named the island Mauritius in 1598. Dodo or Dodaerse is recorded in captain Willem van West-Zanen's journal four years later,^[2] but it is unclear whether he was the first one to use this name, because before the Dutch, the Portuguese had already visited the island in 1507, but did not settle permanently. The dodo was also known as the Devil's chicken to the early settlers of the island.

According to Encarta Dictionary and Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, "dodo" comes from Portuguese doudo (currently doido) meaning "fool" or "crazy". Encarta is a Digital Multimedia Encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. ^[3] However, the present Portuguese name for the bird, dodô, is of English origin. The Portuguese word doudo or doido may itself be a loanword from Old English (cf. English "dolt").

Yet another possibility is that dodo was an onomatopoeic approximation of the bird's own call, a two-note pigeony sound like "doo-doo". Onomatopoeia (also spelled onomatopœia, from Greek: ονοματοποιΐα is a Word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing ^[4]

Systematics and evolution

An illustration by Moghul artist Ustad Mansur, one of the first illustrations of the Dodo

The dodo was a close relative of modern pigeons and doves. The Mughal Empire ( Persian and self-designation گورکانی; مغلیہ سلطنت) was an Islamic imperial power which ruled most Ustad Mansur was a Seventeenth century Mughal painter and court artist of Jehangir who specialised in depicting plants and animals mtDNA cytochrome b and 12S rRNA sequences^[5] analysis suggests that the dodo's ancestors diverged from those of its closest known relative, the Rodrigues Solitaire (which is also extinct), around the Paleogene-Neogene boundary. Mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA) is the DNA located in Organelles called mitochondria. Cytochrome b/b6 is main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes Ribosomal RNA ( rRNA) is the central component of the Ribosome, the protein manufacturing machinery of all living cells. A DNA sequence or genetic sequence is a succession of letters representing the Primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA Molecule The Rodrigues Solitaire ( Pezophaps solitaria) was a flightless member of the Pigeon order endemic to Rodrigues, Mauritius The Paleogene (alternatively Palaeogene) is a geologic period and system that began 65 The Neogene is a geologic period and system starting 2303 ± 0 ^[6] As the Mascarenes are of volcanic origin and less than 10 million years old, both birds' ancestors remained most likely capable of flight for considerable time after their lineages' separation. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the The same study has been interpreted^[7] to show that the Southeast Asian Nicobar Pigeon is the closest living relative of the dodo and the Reunion Solitaire. The Nicobar Pigeon, Caloenas nicobarica, is a pigeon which is a resident breeding bird on small uninhabited islands in Indonesia and the Nicobar The Réunion Sacred Ibis or Réunion Flightless Ibis (see below ( Threskiornis solitarius) is an extinct bird species that was native to the island

However, the proposed phylogeny is rather questionable as regards the relationships of other taxa^[8] and must therefore be considered hypothetical pending further research; considering biogeographical data, it is very likely to be erroneous. A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to Biogeography is the study of the distribution of Biodiversity over Space and Time. All that can be presently said with any certainty is that the ancestors of the didine birds were pigeons from Southeast Asia or the Wallacea, which agrees with the origin of most of the Mascarenes' birds. Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water Straits from the Asian and Australian Whether the dodo and Rodrigues Solitaire were actually closest to the Nicobar Pigeon among the living birds, or whether they are closer to other groups of the same radiation such as Ducula, Treron or Goura pigeons is not clear at the moment. Ducula is a genus of Bird in the Columbidae family It contains the following species Pink-bellied Imperial-pigeon ( UserPolbot. --> Treron is a Genus of Bird in the pigeon family Columbidae. The Genus Goura consists of three species of crowned pigeons They are the largest members of the pigeon family

For a long time, the dodo and the Rodrigues Solitaire (collectively termed "didines") were placed in a family of their own, the Raphidae. In Biological classification, family ( Latin This was because their relationships to other groups of birds (such as rails) had yet to be resolved. The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small to medium-sized Birds The family exhibits considerable diversity As of recently, it appears more warranted to include the didines as a subfamily Raphinae in the Columbidae. In Biological classification, family ( Latin The Raphinae are a Subfamily of Extinct Flightless birds colloquially called didines or didine birds

Painting of an albino dodo, previously mislabeled as "Raphus solitarius". The Réunion Sacred Ibis or Réunion Flightless Ibis (see below ( Threskiornis solitarius) is an extinct bird species that was native to the island

The supposed "White Dodo" is now thought to be based on misinterpreted reports of the Réunion Sacred Ibis and paintings of apparently albinistic dodos; a higher frequency of albinos is known to occur occasionally in island species (see also Lord Howe Swamphen). The Réunion Sacred Ibis or Réunion Flightless Ibis (see below ( Threskiornis solitarius) is an extinct bird species that was native to the island Albinism (from Latin albus, "white" see extended etymology) is a form of hypopigmentary Congenital disorder, The Lord Howe Swamphen or White Gallinule, Porphyrio albus, was a large Bird in the family Rallidae endemic to Lord Howe Island

Morphology and flightlessness

In October 2005, part of the Mare aux Songes, the most important site of dodo remains, was excavated by an international team of researchers. Many remains were found, including bones from birds of various stages of maturity,^[9] and several bones obviously belonging to the skeleton of one individual bird and preserved in natural position. ^[3] These findings were made public in December 2005 in the Naturalis in Leiden. The National Natural History Museum, or Naturalis, is the national Natural history museum for the Netherlands, based in Leiden. "Leyden" redirects here For other uses see Leyden (disambiguation. Before this, few associated dodo specimens were known, most of the material consisting of isolated and scattered bones. Dublin's Natural History Museum and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, among others, have a specimen assembled from these disassociated remains. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Ireland 's Natural History Museum ( Músaem Stair an Dúlra) a branch of the National Museum is housed on Merrion Street in Dublin. The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a Museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's A Dodo egg is on display at the East London museum in South Africa. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Until recently, the most intact remains, currently on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, were one individual's partly skeletal foot and head which contain the only known soft tissue remains of the species.

1626 dodo image by Roelant Savery, drawn after a stuffed specimen – note that it has two left feet and that the bird is obese from captivity. Roelant Savery (or Roeland(t Maertensz Saverij) (1576 Kortrijk - buried February 25 1639, Utrecht) was a Flanders

The remains of the last known stuffed dodo had been kept in Oxford's Ashmolean Museum, but in the mid-18th century, the specimen – save the pieces remaining now – had entirely decayed and was ordered to be discarded by the museum's curator or director in or around 1755. Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, The Ashmolean Museum (in full the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology) on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first

In June 2007, adventurers exploring a cave in Mauritius discovered the most complete and well-preserved dodo skeleton ever. In Biology, the skeleton is a strong and often a rigid framework that supports the body of an animal holding it upright and giving it shape and strength (Also skeletal ^[10]

According to artists' renditions, the Dodo had greyish plumage, a 23-centimetre (9-inch) bill with a hooked point, very small wings, stout yellow legs, and a tuft of curly feathers high on its rear end. Plumage refers both to the layer of Feathers that cover a Bird and the pattern colour and arrangement of those feathers Anatomy Stegosaurus --> Beaks can vary significantly in size and shape from species to species WING "ESPN 1410" is a commercial AM radio station in Dayton Ohio operating with 5000 watts at 1410 kHz with studios offices and transmitter located on David Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering or Plumage, on Birds They are considered the most complex integumentary structures Dodos were very large birds, weighing about 23 kg (50 pounds). The sternum was insufficient to support flight; these ground-bound birds evolved to take advantage of an island ecosystem with no predators. The sternum (from Greek στέρνον sternon, "chest" or breastbone) is a long flat Bone located in the center of the thorax (chest An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (

The traditional image of the dodo is of a fat, clumsy bird, hence the official scientific name Didus ineptus, but this view has been challenged in recent times. The general opinion of scientists today is that the old drawings showed overfed captive specimens. ^[11] As Mauritius has marked dry and wet seasons, the dodo probably fattened itself on ripe fruits at the end of the wet season to live through the dry season when food was scarce; contemporary reports speak of the birds' "greedy" appetite. In captivity, with food readily available, the birds became overfed very easily.

Diet

The tambalacoque, also known as the "dodo tree", was hypothesized by Stanley Temple to have been eaten from by Dodos, and only by passing through the digestive tract of the dodo could the seeds germinate; he claimed that the tambalacocque was now nearly extinct due to the dodo's disappearance. Tambalacoque ( Sideroxylon grandiflorum; formerly Calvaria major) also called the Dodo Tree, is a long-lived tree in the family Sapotaceae Coextinction of a Species is the loss of one species upon the Extinction of another He force-fed seventeen tambalacoque fruits to wild turkeys and three germinated. The Wild Turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo) is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. Temple did not try to germinate any seeds from control fruits not fed to turkeys so the effect of feeding fruits to turkeys was unclear. Temple also overlooked reports on tambalacoque seed germination by A. W. Hill in 1941 and H. C. King in 1946, who found the seeds germinated, albeit very rarely, without abrading. ^{[12][13][14][15]}

Extinction

Landscape with birds - dodo painted by Roelant Savery (1628). Roelant Savery (or Roeland(t Maertensz Saverij) (1576 Kortrijk - buried February 25 1639, Utrecht) was a Flanders

As with many animals evolving in isolation from significant predators, the dodo was entirely fearless of people, and this, in combination with its flightlessness, made it easy prey. Island tameness is the tendency of many populations and Species of animals living on isolated Islands to lose their wariness of potential predators, particularly ^[16] But journals are full of reports regarding the bad taste and tough meat of the dodo, while other local species such as the Red Rail were praised for their taste. The Red Rail or Red Hen of Mauritius, Aphanapteryx bonasia, is an Extinct rail. It is commonly believed that the Malay sailors held the bird in high regard and killed them only to make head dressings used in religious ceremonies. ^[17] However, when humans first arrived on Mauritius, they also brought with them other animals that had not existed on the island before, including dogs, pigs, cats, rats, and Crab-eating Macaques, which plundered the dodo nests, while humans destroyed the forests where the birds made their homes;^[18] currently, the impact these animals – especially the pigs and macaques – had on the dodo population is considered to have been more severe than that of hunting. The dog ( Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated Subspecies of the gray wolf, a Mammal of the Canidae family of the order Pigs, also called hogs or' swine', are Ungulates which have been domesticated as sources of food leather and similar products since ancient times WikipediaManual of Style (spelling, articles should conform to one overall spelling style of English typically the one most linked to the article topic (if it is geographic Rats are various medium sized long-tailed Rodents of the superfamily Muroidea The Crab-eating Macaque ( Macaca fascicularis) is a primarily Arboreal Macaque native to Southeast Asia. The 2005 expedition's finds are apparently of animals killed by a flash flood; such mass mortalities would have further jeopardized an already extinction-prone species. A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic lowlying areas - washes rivers and streams ^[19]

Although there are scattered reports of mass killings of dodos for provisioning of ships, archaeological investigations have hitherto found scant evidence of human predation on these birds. Some bones of at least two dodos were found in caves at Baie du Cap which were used as shelters by fugitive slaves and convicts in the 17th century, but due to their isolation in high, broken terrain were not easily accessible to dodos naturally. ^[20]

Dodo skeleton, Natural History Museum, London, England. The Natural History Museum is one of three large Museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London (the others are the Science Museum London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

There is some controversy surrounding the extinction date of the dodo. Roberts & Solow state that "the extinction of the Dodo is commonly dated to the last confirmed sighting in 1662, reported by shipwrecked mariner Volkert Evertsz" (Evertszoon), but many other sources suggest the more conjectural date 1681. A shipwreck can refer to a wrecked ship or to the event that caused the wreck such as the striking of something that causes the ship to sink the stranding of the ship on rocks Volkert Evertsz ( Patronymic of Evertszoon) was a Dutch mariner who was Shipwrecked on the island of Mauritius and was supposedly Roberts & Solow point out that because the sighting prior to 1662 was in 1638, the dodo was likely already very rare by the 1660s, and that thus a disputed report from 1674 cannot be dismissed out-of-hand. ^[21] Statistical analysis of the hunting records of Issac Johannes Lamotius give a new estimated extinction date of 1693, with a 95% confidence interval of 1688 to 1715. Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection analysis interpretation or explanation and presentation of Data. Isaac Johannes Lamotius was Governor of Mauritius from 1677 to 1692 In Statistics, a confidence interval (CI is an interval estimate of a Population parameter. Considering more circumstantial evidence such as travellers' reports and the lack of good reports after 1689,^[20] it is likely that the dodo became extinct before 1700; the last Dodo died little more than a century after the species' discovery in 1581. ^[22]

Few took particular notice of the extinct bird. By the early 19th century it seemed altogether too strange a creature, and was believed by many to be a myth. With the discovery of the first batch of dodo bones in the Mare aux Songes and the reports written about them by George Clarke, government schoolmaster at Mahébourg, from 1865 on,^[23] interest in the bird was rekindled. A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male School Teacher. Mahébourg is a small city (population 15753 as of 2000 on the southeastern coast of the island of Mauritius. In the same year in which Clarke started to publish his reports, the newly-vindicated bird was featured as a character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The Dodo is a fictional character appearing in Chapters 2 and 3 of the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (ˈdɒdsən (27 January 1832 &ndash 14 January 1898 better known by the Pen name Lewis Carroll (/ˈkærəl/ was an English Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865 is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson better known under the Pseudonym Lewis With the popularity of the book, the dodo became a well-known and easily recognizable icon of extinction.

Cultural significance

Coat of arms of Mauritius

The dodo is used by many environmental organizations that promote the protection of endangered species, such as the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoological Park, founded by Gerald Durrell. The Coat of arms of Mauritius are stipulated in the " Mauritius Laws 1990 Vol Mauritius (pronounced məˈrɪʃəs L’île Maurice /il mɔ'ʁis/ Mauritian Creole: Maurice) officially the Republic of Mauritius, République An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming Extinct because it is either few in numbers or threatened by changing environmental or predation Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organisation with a mission to save species from Extinction. Jersey Zoological Park or Jersey Zoo is a 25- Acre (100000 m² zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the Gerald ('Gerry' Malcolm Durrell OBE ( January 7, 1925 &ndash January 30, 1995) was a naturalist, Zookeeper ^[24]

The dodo's significance as one of the best-known extinct animals and its singular appearance has led to its use in literature and popular culture to symbolize a concept or object that will or has become out of date, expressed in the expression "dead as a dodo" or "gone the way of the dodo". ^[25][26]

"Dodo" is also often used as a term to describe an unintelligent or deranged person, since the dodo had a reputation for an unintelligent lack of fear of humans.

The dodo rampant appears on the coat of arms of Mauritius. The Coat of arms of Mauritius are stipulated in the " Mauritius Laws 1990 Vol Mauritius (pronounced məˈrɪʃəs L’île Maurice /il mɔ'ʁis/ Mauritian Creole: Maurice) officially the Republic of Mauritius, République ^[18]

References

See also

• Extinct birds
• Island gigantism
• Dodo (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

External links

• David Reilly: Tragedy of the Dodo. This page refers only to birds that have gone extinct since the year 1500 A Island gigantism is a biological phenomenon where the size of animals isolated on an island increases dramatically over generations The Dodo is a fictional character appearing in Chapters 2 and 3 of the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Retrieved 2006-12-07. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways
• The Extinction Website: Species Info - Raphus cucullatus. Retrieved 2006-12-07. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways
• Rajith Dissanayake: What did the dodo look like?. Retrieved 2008-05-04. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1256 - The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV