Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Dodo - Google Arts & Culture (2024)

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Dodo - Google Arts & Culture? ›

Dodos lived exclusively on the islands of Mauritius and Reunion. As the latest molecular biological analyses confirm, they were related to the dove, but could attain the size of a turkey and weigh as much as 20 kilograms.

Dodos were large birds, approximately three-feet tall, with downy grey feathers and a white plume for a tail. The Dodo had tiny wings and its sternum – an area with strong wing muscles for flying birds – was correspondingly small. The massive birds could reach a body weight of more than 20 kilograms!

Thus, if the Dodo is indeed an extinct species, it continues to exist in Mauritian culture as a national emblem of the island. The extinction of the Dodo is now an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of protecting biodiversity, particularly the endemic species of Mauritius.

Dodos lived on the Indian island of Mauritius and are descendants of Asian pigeons. Weighing about 50 pounds, it sported a big head, large hooked-tipped bill and short legs. Most notably, their wings were too short and their pectoral muscles weren't strong enough to fly.

These days, the Dodo is considered the poster child for reckless human behavior. The only way for the dodo bird to survive was to be left alone, have had a predatory species introduced to its environment, let evolution do its job, and learn how to fly again. America has seemed to have lost its wings.

No single cause drove the dodo into extinction. Humans hunted the naive birds, of course, but the rats, cats, pigs, and other animals that we brought along with us were just as destructive. The extinction of the dodo was not simply a matter of systematic extermination.

Research Suggests Dodos Might Have Been Quite Intelligent

New research suggests that the dodo, an extinct bird whose name has entered popular culture as a symbol of stupidity, was actually fairly smart.

The dodos built their nests on the ground and ate fruit that fell from the trees. They had no natural predators on Mauritius. They're thought to have been curious, friendly, and agile, so perfectly adapted to their isolated environment that they could live comfortably and fearlessly.

The dodo is frequently cited as one of the most well-known examples of human-induced extinction and also serves as a symbol of obsolescence with respect to human technological progress.

Over-harvesting of the birds, combined with habitat loss and a losing competition with the newly introduced animals, was too much for the dodos to survive. The last dodo was killed in 1681, and the species was lost forever to extinction.

Why was the dodo bird called disgusting? ›

The Dutch sailors of the day dubbed dodos as 'dodaersen' or 'fat-arses,' because of the birds' generously-proportioned backsides. Seafarers who ate dodo meat, described it as tough and unpleasant. They called the dodo 'walchvögel' or 'repulsive bird. '

“The island had no predators or carnivores and the dodo had no need to flee, so it lost its ability to fly. It received a reputation as stupid because it did not flee from humans” and human-introduced predators after they arrived at the dodo's home in the 1600s.

Some early travellers found dodo meat unsavoury, and preferred to eat parrots and pigeons; others described it as tough, but good. Some hunted dodos only for their gizzards, as this was considered the most delicious part of the bird.

In Pop Culture. The dodo's significance as one of the best-known extinct animals and its singular appearance led to its use in literature and popular culture as a symbol of an outdated concept or object, as in the expression "dead as a dodo," which has come to mean unquestionably dead or obsolete.

The main purpose dodos served to humans, in the brief contact between the two species, was as food. The sailors frequently fed on wildlife from Mauritius while staying there, although it has been said that dodo meat was not particularly tasty.

American psychologist Saul Rosenzweig first proposed the "Dodo Bird Verdict" in 1930, stating that all forms of psychological therapy were equally effective. His hypothesis suggested that a person could be treated for any mental illness using any technique, whether psychoanalysis, cognitive behavior therapy, or others.

The dodos built their nests on the ground and ate fruit that fell from the trees. They had no natural predators on Mauritius. They're thought to have been curious, friendly, and agile, so perfectly adapted to their isolated environment that they could live comfortably and fearlessly.

Found by Dutch soldiers around 1600 on an island in the Indian Ocean, the Dodo became extinct less than 80 years later because of deforestation, hunting, and destruction of their nests by animals brought to the island by the Dutch. The Dodo may not always have been flightless.

It was extinct before the year 1700. This happened because the first humans in Mauritius hunted the dodo as food and destroyed its habitat, and the non-native species whom they brought with them, such as pigs, cats, and dogs, destroyed the dodos' nests, eggs, and young.