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 suggested it was actually a ground pigeon. This idea was laughed at first but later supported by other scientists.

These scientists noticed that the dodo shared many features with pigeons, like the shape of 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. Some experts wondered if these differences showed male and female dodos or changes as they grew, but we do not know for sure.

Behaviour and ecology

Little is known about how the dodo behaved because most old descriptions are short. Based on weight guesses, scientists think male dodos could live up to 21 years, and females up to 17 years. Studies of the strength of their leg bones show they could run quite fast. Their legs were strong and helped them move easily in the dense forests before humans arrived. Though their wings were small, muscle marks on the bones show they were used for balance and showing off, similar to how pigeons today use their wings. Unlike another extinct bird called the Rodrigues solitaire, there is no proof the dodo used its wings to fight. Some dodo bones had healed breaks, but their wings were smaller and weaker than the solitaire's. 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 the solitaire, which was probably more aggressive.

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 in south-eastern Mauritius. An old map from 1601 shows a small island near Mauritius where dodos were caught. 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. The swamp's closeness to the coast and its wetness supported many plant types, while the areas around it were drier.

Many special animals on Mauritius went extinct after humans arrived, so the island's ecosystem is badly damaged and hard to protect. 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, found again in 2017, is the only record of what the dodo ate. It also says the dodo used its beak to defend itself. The letter uses funny language to describe the animals, with dodos perhaps standing for rich mayors:

The mayors are superb and proud. They presented themselves with an unyielding, stern face and wide open mouth, very jaunty and audacious of gait. They did not want to budge before us; their war weapon was the mouth, with which they could bite fiercely. Their food was raw fruit; they were not dressed very well, but were rich and fat, therefore we brought many of them on board, to the contentment of us all.

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, since captive dodos were probably given different foods on long sea trips. 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. Reports from old times describe the dodo as having a "greedy" appetite. A scientist in 1996 suggested they mainly ate palm fruit.

Parts of the dodo's upper jaw could move, which helped it eat. In other fruit-eating birds, such as pigeons, these moving parts help swallow big pieces of food. The dodo's beak also seems strong enough to eat hard foods. Studies of the brain show that though it was similar to other pigeons, the dodo had a big part for smell, which may have helped it find fruit and small animals.

Old writings say the dodo used Gastroliths (gizzard stones) to help digest food. An English writer in about 1638 saw a live dodo in London and described it:

About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a strange looking fowle hung out upon a clothe and myselfe with one or two more in company went in to see it. It was kept in a chamber, and was a great fowle somewhat bigger than the largest Turkey cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker and of more erect shape, coloured before like the breast of a young cock fesan, and on the back of a dunn or dearc colour. The keeper called it a Dodo, and in the ende of a chymney in the chamber there lay a heape of large pebble stones, whereof hee gave it many in our sight, some as big as nutmegs, and the keeper told us that she eats them (conducing to digestion), and though I remember not how far the keeper was questioned therein, yet I am confident that afterwards she cast them all again.

It is not known how baby dodos were fed, but related pigeons produce crop milk. Old pictures show a large crop, which was probably used to store food and make crop milk. Scientists think the dodo and another extinct bird may not have grown very big because of how much crop milk they could make for their young.

In 1973, the tambalacoque tree, also called the dodo tree, was thought to be dying out on Mauritius. There were only 13 left, all about 300 years old. A scientist thought the tree needed the dodo to spread its seeds, and that without the dodo, the tree was almost gone. But later finds showed that the tree's seeds could grow without help, though it was rare. Other scientists think the tree was not doing as badly as thought, or that other animals also spread its seeds. Since 1991, the tree has grown again and there are now several hundred, so the idea that the dodo was the only way for the tree to survive is not correct.

A scientist in 1997 suggested that the broad-billed parrot may have depended on dodos and tortoises to eat palm fruits and spread the seeds, which became food for the parrots. Other birds in South America needed big animals that are now gone, but now use cows to help spread seeds. Scientists in 2020 said that extinct Mascarene birds like the dodo, the Rodrigues solitaire, and the broad-billed parrot could only reach seeds at low heights, and were important for spreading seeds of big native plants. In 2023, scientists noted that losing the dodo and other fruit-eating birds hurt the spreading of native plants because no other birds had mouths big enough, and introduced species do not do the same job.

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. The only description of the egg and call comes from François Cauche in 1651:

I have seen in Mauritius birds bigger than a Swan, without feathers on the body, which is covered with a black down; the hinder part is round, the rump adorned with curled feathers as many in number as the bird is years old. In place of wings they have feathers like these last, black and curved, without webs. They have no tongues, the beak is large, curving a little downwards; their legs are long, scaly, with only three toes on each foot. It has a cry like a gosling, and is by no means so savoury to eat as the Flamingos and Ducks of which we have just spoken. They only lay one egg which is white, the size of a halfpenny roll, by the side of which they place a white stone the size of a hen's egg. They lay on grass which they collect, and make their nests in the forests; if one kills the young one, a grey stone is found in the gizzard. We call them Oiseaux de Nazaret. The fat is excellent to give ease to the muscles and nerves.

Cauche's description is tricky because it also says the bird had three toes and no tongue, which dodos did not have. Some think Cauche was describing a new kind of dodo ("Didus nazarenus"). But his writing probably mixed up the dodo with a cassowary, and has other mistakes. A mention of a "young ostrich" on a ship in 1617 is the only other hint of a baby dodo. An egg said to be from a dodo is kept in the East London Museum in South Africa. It was given by a museum worker whose great aunt got it from a captain who said he found it in a swamp on Mauritius. In 2010, the museum wanted to study the egg's genes to see if it was real. It might instead be an unusual ostrich egg.

Studies of dodo bone sections show different growth stages (left) and a drawing of dodo life events based on bone studies and old accounts, from a 2017 study

Because the dodo laid only one egg and was big, scientists think it had few baby birds that needed care to grow up. Some clues, like the dodo's size and that tropical fruit-eating birds grow slowly, suggest the dodo took a long time to grow up. The fact that no baby dodos were found in the Mare aux Songes swamp may mean they did not have many babies, grew up fast, nested far from the swamp, or that getting stuck in the mud happened only at some times of year.

A 2017 study looked at dodo bone sections, modern Mauritian birds, the local environment, and old writings to learn about the dodo's life. The study suggested dodos bred around August, maybe after getting fat, matching the fat and thin cycles of many Mauritian animals. 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. Different stages of losing feathers may explain why old writings about dodo looks did not all agree.

Relationship with humans

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

People found dodos interesting enough to bring some to Europe and other places. However, we do not know how many lived through the journey. Some paintings and writings from that time show dodos that may have been brought to Europe. One dodo was even sent all the way to Japan as a gift.

The dodo had no natural predators before humans arrived, which made it very trusting. However, humans brought animals like rats, pigs, and cats to the island. These animals attacked dodo nests and ate their food. Humans also cut down forests where dodos lived. These changes, more than hunting, led to the dodo's disappearance.

The last known sighting of a dodo was in 1662. Some argue that reports after this were actually about another bird, the red rail. The dodo was likely gone by 1700, about 100 years after it was first seen by humans. 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 that were brought to Europe in the 1600s. Some of the remains include a dried head and foot kept in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and a lost foot that was 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 museum records mention stuffed dodos, but none of these have survived.

Scientists studied the Oxford head and found it had small pieces of metal inside, called lead shot, which people used to hunt birds long ago. 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, a person named Philip Burnard Ayres found the first ancient dodo bones. These were sent to a scientist named Richard Owen. Later, in 1865, a man named George Clark found many more dodo bones in a swamp called Mare aux Songes in Mauritius. These bones gave scientists new information about the dodo.

Over time, many more dodo bones were found in different places in Mauritius. These bones helped scientists learn more about how the dodo looked and lived. 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 started from old stories and paintings. Long ago, people wrote about seeing fat, flightless birds there, calling them "Dod-eersen." Later, paintings of white birds that looked like dodos were found, which added to the confusion.

Scientists thought these paintings showed a special type of dodo, but now we know they were likely based on old artwork or misidentified birds. 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, and 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.