The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.
The closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon.
Subfossil remains show the dodo measured around 62.6–75 centimeters (2.05–2.46 ft) in height and may have weighed 10.6–17.5 kg (23–39 lb) in the wild.
Though the dodo has historically been portrayed as being fat and clumsy, it is now thought to have been well-adapted for its ecosystem.
It is presumed that the dodo became flightless because of the ready availability of abundant food sources and a relative absence of predators on Mauritius.
The dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century.
The first recorded mention of the dodo was by Dutch sailors in 1598.
They appear in reports published in 1601, which also contain the first published illustration of the bird.
In the following years, the bird was hunted by sailors and invasive species, while its habitat was being destroyed.
Some controversy surrounds the date of their extinction. The last widely accepted record of a dodo sighting is the 1662 report by shipwrecked mariner Volkert Evertsz of the Dutch ship Arnhem, who described birds caught on a small islet off Mauritius, now suggested to be Amber Island.
The dodos on this islet may not necessarily have been the last members of the species. The last claimed sighting of a dodo was reported in the hunting records of Isaac Johannes Lamotius in 1688.
The humans introduced animals, including dogs, pigs, cats, rats, and crab-eating macaques, which plundered dodo nests and competed for the limited food resources. At the same time, humans destroyed the forest habitat of the dodos.
The impact of the introduced animals on the dodo population, especially the pigs and macaques, is today considered more severe than that of hunting
The dodo is used to promote the protection of endangered species by environmental organizations, such as the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Park.
In 2023 a company named Colossal Biosciences announced plans to de-extinct the dodo by editing genes from the Nicobar pigeon, although some scientists question whether it is even plausible.
#extinctionblog #dodocloning #extinctbirds

Music: Images of Tomorrow - Unicorn Heads (YouTube Audio Library)