Like many of today’s birds, dodos also swallowed stones, to help with digestion. It may also have eaten seafood items, such as shellfish and crabs, that it found on the shoreline. No one knows for sure, but the dodo probably dined on the fruits, nuts and seeds that it pilfered from the forest floor. The dodo became extinct around 1693, less than 100 years after it was discovered. ![]() They destroyed the dodos’ nests and predated their eggs and chicks. Rats, goats, pigs, deer and macaques competed with the dodos for resources. Perfectly placed as a stopover for their fleets as they criss-crossed the Indian Ocean, the Dutch visited Mauritius many times before setting up a permanent base there in the 1630s.Īlong the way, they trashed the dodo’s natural habitat by felling forests to make way for sugar plantations, and flooded the island with non-native species. The cries of one captive dodo, would attract more, which came running from the forest, and so it went on. Spotting a potential meal, the sailors found they could walk right up to the dodos on the beach, and then club them to death. The dodo had evolved in an environment bereft of natural predators, so it had no fear of the newcomers. Naivety… When the first seafarers set foot on the island, they were exhausted and hungry. Hot on the heels of efforts to resurrect both the woolly mammoth and the thylacine, American biotech company, Colossal Biosciences, has announced plans to de-extinct the dodo.īut why exactly did they go extinct in the first place? What did dodos eat? And, dare we ask, what did they taste like? You can find all answers below. The dodo was exquisitely adapted to its island habitat, and could still be alive now, were it not for the actions of our own species, which drove it to extinction. Much maligned and misunderstood, in popular culture it somehow morphed into a comical caricature that was destined to die out because it was too stupid to survive. The dodo was a large, flightless pigeon, endemic to the island of Mauritius, just over 1,130 kilometres east of Madagascar, off the south-eastern coast of Africa. Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.The surprising science of dodos: Everything you need to know, from extinction cause to its 'repulsive' taste “Preventing species from going extinct in the first place should be our priority, and in most cases, it's a lot cheaper,” said Worm. It helps if they can learn from other wild animals of their kind - an advantage that potential dodos and mammoths won't have, said Boris Worm, a biologist at the University of Dalhousie in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has no connection to Colossal. “And where on Earth would you put a woolly mammoth, other than in a cage?” asked Pimm, who noted that the ecosystems where mammoths lived disappeared long ago.Ĭonservation biologists familiar with captive breeding programs say that it can be tricky for zoo-bred animals to ever adapt to the wild. ![]() “There's a real hazard in saying that if we destroy nature, we can just put it back together again - because we can't,” said Duke University ecologist Stuart Pimm, who has no connection to Colossal. The US company is trying to bring the extinct Dodo bird back to life. The arrival of humans in the dodos' habitat also brought the introduction of many other species -including rats, goats, pigs, deer and macaque- that took a liking to dodo eggs, and ultimately decimated the birds' numbers. How they arrived on the secluded paradise is unclear, but the cause of the dodo's decline is plainer.Īfter thriving without a natural predator till the arrival of settlers in the 1500s, the birds maintained a steady population - despite only laying one egg each a year. ![]() ![]() If man had never encountered a dodo bird, the island of Mauritius may still serve as their home. Together, Colossal and the scientific community at large are committed to our efforts to de-extinct those we’ve lost.” It’s not just important for their continued existence. Credit: Colossal Biosciencesĭr Beth Shapiro, lead palaeogeneticist at Colossal explained: "There has never been more urgency to preserve species than there is today.
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