Reconstruction of the dodo.
Copyright © Peter Maas. All rights reserved.
Reconstruction of a dodo skull from the National Museum of Natural History 'Naturalis' in Leiden, the Netherlands (2002). Photographed by Peter Maas. This image has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Licence.
Struthio cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758; Didus ineptus Linnaeus, 1766.
There are two speculations on where the name for the dodo came from. The more accepted source is the Dutch word "dodoor" which mean "sluggard." This word describes both the dodo's looks and appearance. The other speculation is that the name comes from the Portuguese word "doudo" which, meaning foolish or simple.
The length of the dodo was about 100cm (3ft, 3in) and weighed to 20 kg. It had large legs, short little wings, a short neck and a 23cm long enormous thick, bowed beak. At the end of its thickset figure the dodo had a tussle feathers. The plumage of the dodo was greyish with darker upperparts and lighter on throat and abdomen. The tail feathers were whitish. The thighs were blackish. The bare part of the face was probably ash-coloured, while the feet and legs were yellow. The iris was probably whitish, and its beak green or black, perhaps with some yellow. (Fuller, 2000)
The
dodo couldn't fly and toddled
on a stiff way. There
aren't many bones preserved today, and only one complete skeleton. This is
making it difficult to estimate the true proportions. By analysing their
bones has come up that the dodo probable wasn't a thick, clumsy bird at
all, but looked more like the dodo on the left-hand picture. Our image of
the dodo comes from old European drawings and accounts. It can be a
romanticised version of the truth.
Photos: a new and the old dodo reconstruction. Photographed by Peter Maas (2002) at a temporary dodo exposition in the National Museum of Natural History 'Naturalis' in Leiden, the Netherlands. Photographed by Peter Maas. This image has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Licence.
The call of the dodo was probable very similar to that of a young goose, while other sources say they didn't made a sound at all.The sailors who landed on Mauritius found much amusement in watching the clumsy dodo's behaviour. There is a story one told of watching a dodo attempt to escape in a hurry. When it tried to run away, (wobble may be a more accurate term), its belly would drag on the ground and slow him down. But for the most part, the dodo is described as a lazy, rather dumb animal. It had virtually no defences against predators, except for its large beak which could deliver a "fearsome bite" if the occasion arose, such as a threat to itself or its young.
Dodo birds were once the
inhabitants of Mauritius, a small, oyster-shaped island which lies
approximately 500 miles east of Madagascar. Many images and stories place
the dodo along the coasts of Mauritius, but actually was the dodo a
forest-dwelling bird. The island of Mauritius has many different biotopes,
like plains, small mountains, forests, marshes, reefs, etc., but as told
before the dodo lived particularly in the forests.
Image: map showing the location of the island of Mauritius, the former range of the dodo. Created by Peter Maas for The Extinction Website. This image has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Licence. This applies worldwide.
Stanley Temple, a University of Wisconsin ornithologist, hypothesized that the extinction of the dodo was responsible for the near extinction of the tambalacoque or calvaria tree (Sideroxylon grandiflorum, formerly Calvaria major). He proposed that dodo and tambalacoque represented an obligation animal-plant mutualism in which the tambalacoque seeds had to pass through the dodo digestive system before they could germinate. Temple assumed the tambalacoque's fruit, with its thick and hard endocarp, would mechanically prevent germination unless worn down by the dodo digestive system. He drafted a flock of turkeys to serve in a germination experiment. Of the seventeen tambalacoque pits he force-fed to the turkeys, his dodo-substitute, only three germinated. Temple also claimed that no tambalacoque trees were less than 300 years old, but had no data to support that other than second-hand estimates. Tambalacoque trees have no annual rings so their age is not easy to determine. Temple published in a very prestigious journal that gave his appealing hypothesis added credibility and widespread attention. The hypothesis has been widely adopted as fact by many biology books and webpages as an example of an obligate animal-plant mutualism. If his hypothesis was true, it would be a good example of the consequences of the extinction of a species in an ecosystem. (Hershey 2004; Temple 1977)
After his publication several scientists have rebutted Temple's hypothesis. There exist tambalacoque trees in the wild on Mauritius that are less than 300 years old. There were also not 13 trees left in 1973 as he claimed, but several hundred. The decline in the tambalacoque population has been caused by other factors such as large-scare deforestation, destruction of seeds by fungal diseases, and introduced plants and animals. Temple also overlooked reports on tambalacoque seed germination by Hill (1941) and King (1946), who found the seeds germinated without abrading. Tambalacoque is analogous to Peach. Both have a hard endocarp, surrounding the seed but the endocarp naturally splits along a fracture line during germination. Temple made a fundamental error by not having a control treatment of uneaten pits in his germination experiment with turkeys. It is now also known that tambalacoque seeds do germinate naturally without the dodo and without artificially abrading the endocarp. While dodos may have eaten tambalacoque fruits, there is no solid evidence they did. Nor is there solid evidence that the dodo was absolutely required for seed germination. This was a great story when it was first reported in the early 1970's, but it was proven to be false. (Hershey 2004; Hill 1941; King 1946)
Studies indicate that the proto-dodo/solitaire and the ancestor of the genus Caloenas, the closest relative of the Dodo, diverged in the mid to late Eocene, around 43 Ma, whereas the dodo and the solitaire separated in the late Oligocene, about 26 Ma. The latter date is biogeographically interesting as it is considerably older than the islands of Mauritius and Rodriguez. Geological evidence suggests that Mauritius emerged in a series of volcanic events, the earliest of which occurred around 7 Ma, whereas Rodriguez did not emerge until 1.5 Ma. Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that the large genetic distance between the dodo and the solitaire resulted from isolation on the two islands.
Drilling projects have established that ridges surrounding the Mascarene Plateau were above sea level in the late Oligocene and have subsided slowly thereafter. The similarity between the timing of the dodo/solitaire divergence and the first geological evidence of land in the Mascarene island chain is striking and suggests that island steppingstones may have been used before the two species eventually found their way to Mauritius and Rodriguez. The solitaire and dodo reached their new homes by air, later evolving flightlessness independently.
While Arab and Malay sailors knew of Mauritius as early as the 10th century and Portuguese sailors first visited it in 1505. The first account of the dodo came in 1507 from Portuguese sailors, led by Captain Mascaregnas. The island remained uninhabited until 1638 when it was colonized by the Dutch. They named the island in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau. In the dodos, the sailors found amusement and, when they were running out of supplies, food.
Photo: Drawing of a dodo by an anonymous hand in the journal of the Dutch ship the Gerlderland (c. 1601). Original in Rijksarchief, The Hague, the Netherlands. Photographed by Peter Maas (2002) at a temporary dodo exposition in the National Museum of Natural History 'Naturalis' in Leiden, the Netherlands.This image has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Licence.
Along with groups of people, the ships brought cats, dogs, swine and sometimes monkeys. These animals quickly invaded the woods, trampling the nests and frightening the birds. These domestic creatures also devoured the dodo eggs and young. The interference of the foreign animals coupled with the continued overuse of the birds for food led to its total extinction. However, it seems reports of its demise at the hands of hungry European sailors were 30 years premature. The extinction of the dodo is commonly dated to the last sighting in 1662, reported by Volkert Evertsz on an islet off Mauritius. By this time the dodo had become extremely rare, the previous sighting having been 24 years earlier, but the dodo probably persisted unseen beyond this date. (Roberts & Solow, 2003)
The most recent sightings are from 1662, 1638, 1631, 1628, 1627, 1611, 1607, 1602, 1601 and 1598. An escaped slave named Simon claimed to have seen a dodo as recently as 1674. The last account of live birds is by Benjamin Harry, chief mate on the Berkley Castle, who claimed that dodos were still present on Mauritius in 1681. However, the reliability of these claims are open to question. The French Huguenot François Leguat, whose journals provide us with much knowledge on the extinct Rodriguez solitaire Pezophaps solitarius arrived on Mauritius in 1693. Despite the attention he gave to natural history in his reports, Leguat did not mention the Dodo. It is assumed that the bird must have disappeared before 1693. (Roberts & Solow, 2003; Staub, 1996; Van den Hoek Ostende, 1999)
David Roberts of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom, and Andrew Solow of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, USA, report in the journal Nature that they have developed a statistical method to estimate how long a species probably survives after its last recorded sighting. They used the 10 most recent sightings of the bird to calculate when the dodo might have died out. The analysis suggested that the last dodo died not in 1662 but 28 years later, in 1690. It soon became the best-known example of an extinct animal, leading to the expression "dead as a dodo". (BBC News, 2003; Roberts & Solow, 2003)
Dodo bones discovered on Mauritius in 2005
On Friday, October 28, 2005, a Dutch-Mauritian research team discovered the very first intact layer of bones and botanical materials, including Dodo remains. The material's age is estimated at 2000 to 3000 years. This new find will allow for the first scientific research into and reconstruction of the world in which the Dodo lived, before western man landed on Mauritius and wiped out the species. (Naturalis, 2005)
The fossil material was excavated in an area of Mauritius called "Mare aux Songes", a low-lying swamp area in the dry southeastern part of the island. The discovery yielded several Dodo bones, including remains of Dodo chicks and a very rare part of the bird's beak, only a few of which are known to exist in the entire world. In addition to the Dodo remains, the find included bones of various other extinct bird species, indigenous giant tortoise species, and a baby giant tortoise, as well as a large number of seeds and remains of (partly) extinct trees and plants. The location of all bones in a single layer leads scientists to believe this is a mass grave. (Naturalis 2005)
2006 Dodo expedition
From 2 June to 3 July 2006 an international research team of Dutch, British and local biologists, geologists and archaeologists have dug for dodo bones on Mauritius. This expedition followed up Dutch-Mauritian scientists major find in autumn 2005 of a unique treasure trove of exceptionally rare Dodo remains. The purpose of the expedition was to reconstruct the world of the Dodo before Western man set foot on the island of Mauritius and wiped out the species. The researchers want also answer the question on what has been the cause of the disappearance of the dodo and its environment. The expedition has ended successful. (Naturalis 2006a; Naturalis 2006b)
Besides dodo bones, including the complete part of a dodo skeleton, the first ever finding is recorded of largely complete shields and articulated leg bones of the two species of Giant Tortoises (Cylandrispis sp.). In addition dr. Julian Hume positively identified for the very first time ever bones of the red-white-blue pigeon (Pigeon Hollandaise). In addition bones of the flightless Mauritian Red Rail, Mascarene owl and various passerines and other birds (jet to be identified) are found. Beak and bones of one of the world largest ever parrots the giant parrot Lophosittacus mauritianus are found. Bones of the giant skink Didosaurus and fruit bats were found. Abundant seeds and tree stems of ebony, the nearly extinct Dodo tree (Tambalacoque) and various palms are found. (Naturalis 2006b)
The fossil dodo-biotope in its context provides unprecedented research potential in order to reconstruct the world of the Dodo and determine the factors of its demise. The fossil rich layer may represent a single catastrophic event. A natural disaster may have led to the accumulation of animals and plant remains in the lake, this will be further investigated. Part of the research is devoted the determining the factors causing the demise of the Dodo. Preliminary research results obtained from Fort Frederik Hendrik (1638 -1710) supervised by drs. Pieter Floore and drs. Ranjith Jayasena suggests contrary to common believe, the Dodo was not part of the Dutch diet. Other causes of the demise of the Dodo are now under investigation. DNA research by dr. Beth Shapiro of the University of Oxford will shed light in the human induced change in the Dodo-ecosystem and its evolution. Bone research by dr. Lorna Steel (Museum of Isle of Wight Geology) will provide insight in the diet and growth patterns of the Dodo. The vegetation development history will be based on microfossil research by dr. Frans Bunnik (TNO Geological Survey of the Netherlands). In September 2006, the first results were presented at a seminar has be held at University of Oxford. (Naturalis 2006b)
The finds will be studied scientifically during the next three years (Naturalis 2006a). A non-profit charity-based Dodo Research Foundation has been set up to collect funding for further research. On the website www.dodo-expeditie.nl research results will be published. (Naturalis 2006b)
Scientists have extracted DNA from a dodo, raising the prospect that the animal whose name is synonymous with extinction could be resurrected. British experts have recovered fragments of genetic material from a preserved head and foot kept in Oxford University's Museum of Natural History. The research has already identified the closest living relative and may pave the way to the recreation of the species. However, the genetic material has deteriorated into millions of fragments. Once scientists have worked out the key genes that made the dodo unique, they could then create genetically engineered DNA to put into the nucleus of an egg and hatch a dodo-like bird using one of the pigeons identified by Cooper's survey. It would, however, be almost impossible to recreate a perfect dodo, because its genetic code, which survives only in tiny fragments, could most likely never be worked out to a sufficiently high degree of accuracy. (Farrar 1999; Shapiro et al. 2002)
All that remains of the dodo
is a head and foot at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, a foot
in the British Museum in London, a head in Copenhagen, and a variety of
bones strewn across museums in Europe, the United States and Mauritius.
The Natural History Museum of Mauritius (Musee
d'Histoire Naturelle de Port Louis) has the only complete skeleton of one single dodo, found in the swaps
of Mare-Aux Songes, Mauritius. The European and American skeletons are assembled from bones
of many different birds.
Museums
with dodo remains and/or reconstructions are: Oxford (UK), Leiden
(Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark), Port Louis (Mauritius) and many more.
Photo: Dodo skull. Photographed by Helle Jørgensbye at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copyright © Danish Zoological Society. All rights reserved.
The nearest relative of the dodo, which lived also on the Mascarenes, is the Rodrigues Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) which lived on the island Rodriguez. The Réunion Solitaire (Raphus solitarius), which is supposed to have lived on the island of Réunion, could also be a close relative. However, this third dodo species was most likely misidentified. In reality it was most likely the Réunion Flightless Ibis (Threskiornis solitarius).
Some sources mention
a fourth dodo species, the Nazarath Dodo Didus nazarenus. It was described in 1848 in the Bulletin
of the Russian Academy Imperial of the Sciences from the Professor Hamel, that is dedicated to a revision of
the then available literature. Nazarenus should be derived from the usual mishap reserved to the names. Here the sequence: walghvogel -
oiseau de nausée -
oiseau de Nazareth. This is
the interpretation of Hamel. But the island of Tromelin would be able to be
the former island of Nazareth. Nevertheless, until time and money will not allow it, nothing dell will be
known' real existence of the Didus nazarenus. This website won't
recognises this as a real species until we receive more evidence.
Researchers at the University of Oxford, UK, have taken samples from a
preserved specimen in an attempt to uncover the extinct bird's family tree
in 2002. The Oxford team worked with the Natural History Museum to collect
and analyse genetic material from a preserved dodo, from the similarly
extinct Rodriguez solitaire, and from another 35 kinds of living pigeon and
dove. Their analysis
confirmed that the Dodo and the Rodrigues Solitaire were, as expected, each others closest relative.
What is less expected is that these two extinct flightless giants are
nested deep inside the pigeon family tree. In other words, dodos are
more closely related to some flying pigeons than those flying pigeons
are to other flying pigeon. Among living pigeons, the dodos are most
close to the Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica), a beautiful
pigeon from South East Asia. Almost as closely related are the crowned pigeons
(Goura sp.) of New Guinea. The unusual Samoan tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus
strigirostris), originally named for its dodo-like beak, is the basal
member of this strongly supported group of large, generally
ground-dwelling, island endemics. Furthermore, the phylogeographic
distribution of this morphologically diverse group suggests that the dodo
and the Rodriguez solitaire dispersed from Southeast Asia to the
Mascarenes at some point in the past. (Shapiro
et al., 2002)
Photo:
Nicobar Pigeon at Bristol Zoo, Bristol, England. Photographed by Adrian
Pingstone in August 2003 and placed in the public domain. This image has
been (or is hereby) released into the public
domain by its creator. This applies worldwide.
In case this is not legally possible, the creator grants anyone the right
to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such
conditions are required by law.
The
Tragedy of the Dodo (1598-1681).
The
Animal Diversity Web - Raphus cucullatus (Dodo Bird): Narrative.
The
Mauritius Encyclopedia - Images of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus).
The
Mauritius Encyclopedia - Raphus cucullatus (Dodo Bird) Data Sheet.
The
Mauritius Encyclopedia - Rebuilding the Dodo from it's DNA.
The
Mauritius Encyclopedia - The Dodo Family Secrets - DNA yields dodo family
secrets.
The
Mauritius Encyclopedia - Lean, mean - but still dead as a DODO.
The
Mauritius Encyclopedia - Dodo was really a pigeon.
300
Pearls – Museum highlights of natural diversity.
300
Pearls - Dodo - The archetype of an extinct animal.
Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
American
Museum of Natural History - Dodo
Tambalacoque
(dodo-tree) - Wikipedia.
Extinct
Birds of Mauritius -
Description of the Dodo bird (Raphus cucullatus).
BBC
News | SCI/TECH | DNA yields dodo family secrets.
BBC
NEWS | Science/Nature | Scientists pinpoint dodo's demise.
Farrar, F. 1999. DNA Science could rebuild dead dodo. The Sunday Times (21 March 1999).
Fuller, E. 2000. Extinct birds. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hershey, D. R., 2004. The widespread misconception that the tambalacoque absolutely required the dodo for its seeds to germinate. Plant Science Bulletin 50: 105-108.
Hill, A. W., 1941. The genus Calvaria, with an account of the stony endocarp and germination of the seed, and description of the new species. Annals of Botany 5: 587-606.
King, H. C., 1946. Interim Report on Indigenous Species in Mauritius. Port Luis, Mauritius: Government Printer.
Naturalis. 2005. New Dodo bones discovered on Mauritius. Press Release (23 December 2005). Leiden, The Netherlands.
Naturalis. 2006a. New Dodo expedition: Dutch initiative and interactive. Press Release (22 May 2006). Leiden, The Netherlands.
Naturalis. 2006b. Dodo expedition ends successfully. Press Release. Leiden, The Netherlands.
Roberts, D.L., Solow, A.R. 2003. Flightless birds: When did the dodo become extinct? Nature 426, 245-245. Brief Communications.
Shapiro, B., Sibthorpe, D., Rambaut, A., Austin, J., Wragg, GM., Bininda-Emonds, O.R.P., Lee, P.L.M., Cooper, A. 2002. Flight of the Dodo. Science 295, 1683.
Staub, F. 1996. Dodos and Solitaires, Myths and Reality, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Arts & Sciences of Mauritius, vol 6, pp.89-122.
Temple, S.A. 1977. Plant-Animal Mutualism: Coevolution with Dodo Leads to Near Extinction of Plant. Science 26 August 1977: Vol. 197. no. 4306, pp. 885 - 886.
Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W. 1999. Dodo - The archetype of an extinct animal. 300 Pearls - Museum highlights of natural diversity. Downloaded on 1 February 2006.
Last updated: 6th September 2008.
This page is a part of The Extinction Website. © 2000-2009.