![]() The extreme evolutionary changes it has undergone (e.g. Research published in Science by a team from Oxford University and the Natural History Museum, London, has shed new light on the genetic origins of the Dodo as well as offering solutions to how the species bird came to be isolated on the island of Mauritius.ĭespite being the emblem of extinction, the evolutionary history of the Dodo is poorly understood. Most of these were copies, or not based on original observations - and many may have been based on birds in captivity in Europe - where they may well have been overfed by people not familiar with their ecology. Interestingly, recent work by Andrew Kitchener of the Royal Museums of Scotland, has showed that the Dodo was probably not as fat as generally depicted in the paintings of the time. The Dodo and Solitaire were different enough morphologically that it was thought that they represented independent colonisation events - from differing African pigeons. If they were pigeons, then the most likely explanation would be that they represented the descendants of migratory African pigeons that had lost their way and colonised the islands. ![]() In fact early scientists had considered their closest relatives lay amongst parrots, birds of prey, shorebirds or pigeons - although by the 1800s the general view was that they were probably pigeons, or at least somewhat related to them. The Dodo and Solitaire were so heavily modified for their island habitats (eg large, flightless) that it is very difficult to determine their evolutionary history by looking at their morphology (shape, e.g. The early accounts suggest that the animals did not recognise humans as a predator - and were easy to hunt. The Dodo was first encountered in the late 1500s or early 1600s and was probably extinct by the mid 1600s - as a result of human hunting, and especially the introduction of rats and pigs. One of these stones, nearly an inch and a half in length, of extremely hard volcanic rock, is in the Cambridge University museum in England. The name Dodo comes from the Portuguese word for simpleton.ĭodo birds aided digestion by swallowing large stones these were used by the Dutch sailors to sharpen their knives with. The last confirmed sighting was in 1662, but it is now believed that the last Dodo died in 1690. Update: The Dodo bird may have survived for 30 years longer than was earlier thought. : Dodo Bird History, Pictures, Extinction : Origins and isolation of the Dodo Birdįrederick William Frohawk's restoration from Walter Rothschild's 1907 book Extinct Birds
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