The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a bird that could not fly and is no longer alive. It lived only on the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo was closely related to another extinct bird called the Rodrigues solitaire. Together, these two birds belonged to a group called Raphina, which is part of the family of birds that includes pigeons and doves (Columbidae). The Nicobar pigeon is the living bird most closely related to the dodo. Some people once believed there was a white dodo on the nearby island of Réunion, but this idea is now thought to be incorrect. It likely came from confusion with the Réunion ibis, another extinct bird, and from paintings of white dodos.
Pieces of the dodo found in the ground, called subfossils, show it was about 62.6–75 centimeters (2.05–2.46 feet) tall and weighed 10.6–17.5 kilograms (23–39 pounds) in the wild. Drawings, paintings, and written descriptions from the 17th century are the only records of how the dodo looked. These images vary, and some were made from live birds, while others were guesses. Scientists do not know exactly what the dodo looked like or how it behaved. It was often shown with brownish-gray feathers, yellow feet, a tail feather tuft, a gray head, and a beak with black, yellow, and green colors. The dodo used stones in its stomach to help digest food, which likely included fruit. It probably lived in the dry coastal forests of Mauritius. One report says it laid only one egg at a time. Scientists think the dodo lost the ability to fly because there was plenty of food and few predators on Mauritius. Although the dodo was once thought to be clumsy and fat, it is now believed to have been well-suited to its environment.
The first written record of the dodo was made by Dutch sailors in 1598. In the years that followed, the bird was hunted by sailors and invasive animals, and its habitat was destroyed. The last known sighting of a dodo was in 1662. People did not immediately realize the bird was gone, and some thought it was a myth. In the 1800s, scientists studied a few remains of dodos that had been brought to Europe in the early 1600s. One of these remains is a dried head, the only soft tissue of the dodo that still exists today. Since then, many more dodo bones have been found on Mauritius, mostly in the Mare aux Songes swamp. The dodo went extinct less than 100 years after it was first discovered, which helped people understand how humans can cause species to disappear. The dodo is famous for appearing in the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and is now often used as a symbol of extinction and outdated things.
Taxonomy
The dodo was once thought to be related to many different birds, such as ostriches, rails, albatrosses, and vultures, by early scientists. In 1842, a Danish zoologist named Johannes Theodor Reinhardt suggested that dodos were a type of ground pigeon, based on a dodo skull he studied at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Many people laughed at this idea, but later, English naturalists Hugh Edwin Strickland and Alexander Gordon Melville supported it in their 1848 book The Dodo and Its Kindred. They compared the dodo’s preserved head and foot with remains of the extinct Rodrigues solitaire and found they shared many similar features. Strickland noted that the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire had leg bones similar to those of pigeons.
Strickland and Melville found that the dodo had many physical traits in common with pigeons. These included a short beak with a long, bare part at the base, bare skin around the eyes, and a high forehead with a nostril located low on the beak. These features were also found in pigeons. The dodo’s legs were more like those of ground-dwelling pigeons than other birds, and its large crop (a part of the digestive system) was more developed than in other birds. Like pigeons, the dodo laid only one egg per clutch and lacked certain bones in the nose. The dodo also shared features in its jaw, cheekbone, palate, and foot with pigeons. However, the dodo had much smaller wings and a larger beak compared to the rest of its skull.
During the 19th century, scientists classified several species as relatives of the dodo, including the Rodrigues solitaire and the Réunion solitaire. These were named Didus solitarius and Raphus solitarius, respectively. A 17th-century description of a dodo and bones from Rodrigues led to the naming of a new species, Didus nazarenus, in 1852. However, this species is now considered the same as the Rodrigues solitaire. Some early drawings of a red rail from Mauritius were also mistakenly thought to be dodo species, named Didus broeckii and Didus herberti.
For many years, the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire were placed in their own family, Raphidae, because scientists were unsure of their exact relationships with other pigeons. Each bird was also placed in its own separate family, Raphidae and Pezophapidae, because it was believed they evolved similar traits independently. Later studies of bones and DNA showed that the family Raphidae no longer exists. Today, the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire are grouped in the pigeon subfamily Raphinae and tribe Raphini. In 2024, a new subtribe called Raphina was created to include only the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire.
In 2002, a scientist named Beth Shapiro and her team studied the dodo’s DNA for the first time. They compared DNA from the dodo’s leg bone and the Rodrigues solitaire’s thigh bone and found they were closely related. This placed both birds in the pigeon family, Columbidae. Genetic evidence suggested that the Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) was their closest living relative, followed by crowned pigeons (Goura) from New Guinea and the tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris) from Samoa. These birds are all ground-dwelling pigeons found on islands. A diagram shows the dodo’s closest relatives within the pigeon family. A similar diagram published in 2007 included other pigeons at the base of the group. These findings need more testing because the DNA used came from a single dodo specimen, and no usable DNA has been found in older remains. Some scientists, like Jolyon C. Parish, suggested the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire should be grouped with crowned pigeons based on behavior and physical traits. In 2014, DNA from the extinct spotted green pigeon (Caloenas maculata) showed it was closely related to the Nicobar pigeon, making it a relative of the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire as well.
The 2002 study found that the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire’s ancestors split from other pigeons about 23 million years ago. The Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues) are volcanic and less than 10 million years old, so the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire’s ancestors likely could fly for a long time after their lineage split. The Nicobar and spotted green pigeons are at the base of a group leading to the flightless raphines, showing their ancestors could fly and lived on islands. This supports the idea that these birds reached the Mascarene Islands by moving between islands from South Asia. Without large mammals to compete for food, the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire grew very large and lost the ability to fly. Despite their large size and different skull shape, their bones were similar to those of smaller, flying pigeons. Another large, flightless pigeon, the Viti Levu giant pigeon (Natunaornis gigoura), was found in Fiji and is thought to be related to crowned pigeons.
The dodo was originally called "Walghvoghel" in Dutch by a Dutch admiral named Wybrand van Warwijck in 1598. "Walgh" means "tasteless" or "sickly," and "voghel" means "bird." The name was translated into German as "Walchvögel." An English version of a Dutch report described the dodo as "Wallowbirds," which the explorers disliked and called "lothsome or fulsome birds." Another account from the same voyage mentioned that the Portuguese called the dodo "penguins," though the meaning is unclear.
Description
Because no complete dodo specimens remain, scientists have difficulty knowing what the bird looked like on the outside, such as its feathers and colors. Most information about the dodo’s appearance comes from old drawings and written descriptions made between when the bird was discovered (1598) and when it became extinct (1662). These sources suggest the dodo had gray or brown feathers, with lighter feathers on its wings and a small, curly tuft of light feathers near its tail. Its head was gray and had no feathers, its beak was green, black, and yellow, and its legs were thick and yellowish with black claws. A study of the few feathers left on the Oxford specimen showed they were stiff and similar to those of other pigeons, not soft and fluffy like down.
Subfossil bones and remains of dodos brought to Europe in the 17th century show the bird was very large, standing about 62.6–75 cm (24.6–29.5 in) tall. Dodos were sexually dimorphic, meaning males were larger and had longer beaks than females. Scientists have estimated their weight differently. In 1993, one study said males weighed about 21 kg (46 lb) and females 17 kg (37 lb). Another study from the same year suggested that dodos kept in captivity might have been overweight, with wild dodos weighing around 10.6–17.5 kg (23–39 lb) and heavier ones reaching up to 27.8 kg (61 lb). A 2011 study estimated an average weight of 10.2 kg (22 lb), but this has been debated. A 2016 study using CT scans of dodo skeletons suggested an average weight of 10.6–14.3 kg (23–32 lb). Some scientists think dodos might have gained weight during colder seasons but lost it in hot weather.
The dodo’s skull was very different from other pigeons. It was stronger, with a hooked beak tip and a short head compared to its jaws. The upper beak was almost twice as long as the skull, which was shorter than in other pigeons. The nostrils were long and had no dividing bone. The skull was wider than it was long, with a dome-shaped bone above the eye sockets. The back of the skull sloped downward, and the eye sockets took up much of the skull’s rear. Inside the eyes, there were eleven small bones, like those in other pigeons. The lower jaw was slightly curved and had one opening, as in other pigeons.
The dodo had 19 neck and chest bones (including three fused into a group called a notarium), 16 bones in the lower back and tail area, six free tail bones, and a pygostyle (a bone at the end of the tail). Its neck had strong areas for muscles and ligaments, likely to support its heavy head and beak. Each side of its body had six ribs, four of which connected to the sternum. The sternum (breastbone) was large but smaller compared to its body size than in flying pigeons. It was hollow and thick. The bones in the shoulders, wings, and chest were smaller and weaker than in flying pigeons but not completely missing. The dodo’s wing bones were more robust than those of the Rodrigues solitaire, a related bird. Its pelvis (hip bones) were wider than the solitaire’s but similar to those of smaller flying pigeons. Most of its leg bones were stronger than those of living pigeons and the solitaire, though their lengths were similar.
Many features that make the dodo and Rodrigues solitaire different from other pigeons are linked to their flightlessness. Their hip bones were thicker to support their weight, and their wings and chest muscles were underdeveloped, retaining traits from juvenile birds. Their skulls, bodies, and legs changed more as they aged. The dodo and Rodrigues solitaire shared traits like skull shape, hip structure, and large size, but they also had differences. The dodo was more robust and shorter than the solitaire, had a larger skull and beak, a rounded skull roof, and smaller eye sockets. Its neck and legs were shorter, and it lacked the knob on its wrists that the solitaire had.
Most written descriptions of the dodo come from logs and journals of Dutch East India Company ships that visited Mauritius during the Dutch Empire’s rule. These records helped guide later voyages. However, many accounts are not reliable because they were based on earlier descriptions and not written by scientists. One of the earliest accounts, from van Warwijck’s 1598 journal, described the dodo as a large bird with a head half-covered in skin, no wings, and a soft, ash-colored tail. Another detailed description from Herbert’s 1634 book said the dodo was round and fat, with a crooked beak, small eyes, and a body covered in soft feathers. The only known sketches of living or recently killed dodos were drawn in the 1601–1603 journal of the Dutch ship Gelderland by artists Joris Joostensz Laerle and another. These sketches are important because few other records of the dodo exist, and most illustrations from the 17th century may have been based on stuffed specimens rather than live birds.
Behaviour and ecology
Little is known about the behavior of the dodo because most descriptions from the past are very short. Based on estimates of its weight, scientists think male dodos might have lived up to 21 years, and females up to 17 years. Studies of the strength of their leg bones suggest they could run quickly. Their legs were strong and helped them move easily through the thick, forested areas of their home before humans arrived. Though their wings were small, muscle marks on their bones show they were not completely useless. They may have helped with balance or displays, like some modern pigeons. Unlike the Rodrigues solitaire, there is no evidence the dodo used its wings to fight other dodos. Some dodo bones show healed breaks, but they had weaker chest muscles and smaller wings compared to the solitaire. The dodo may have used its large, hooked beak instead for territorial disputes. Since Mauritius had more rain and less seasonal changes than Rodrigues, the dodo likely had less need to fight for territory. The Rodrigues solitaire was probably more aggressive. In 2016, scientists created the first 3D model of the dodo’s brain. Its brain size compared to its body was similar to modern pigeons, suggesting the dodo was likely as intelligent as pigeons.
The preferred habitat of the dodo is unknown, but old records suggest it lived in forests near the coast in southern and western Mauritius. This idea is supported by the fact that many dodo remains were found near the sea in the Mare aux Songes swamp, which is in southeastern Mauritius. This limited area may have contributed to the dodo’s extinction. A 1601 map shows a small island near Mauritius where dodos were caught. A scientist named Julian Hume believes this island was l'île aux Bénitiers in Tamarin Bay on Mauritius’s west coast. Old bones have also been found in mountain caves, showing the dodo once lived in highland areas. Studies at Mare aux Songes show the dodo’s habitat had many trees like tambalacoque and Pandanus, along with unique palms. The swamp’s location near the coast and its wetness supported many plant species, while nearby areas were drier.
Many species on Mauritius went extinct after humans arrived, causing serious damage to the island’s ecosystem. Before humans came, Mauritius was covered in forests, but most of these forests are gone due to cutting down trees. Many native animals are still in danger. The dodo lived with other extinct birds like the flightless red rail, broad-billed parrot, Mascarene grey parakeet, Mauritius blue pigeon, Mauritius scops owl, Mascarene coot, Mauritian shelduck, Mauritian duck, and Mauritius night heron. Extinct reptiles included the saddle-backed and domed Mauritius giant tortoises, 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, like Casearia tinifolia and the palm orchid, also became extinct.
A 1631 Dutch letter (rediscovered in 2017) is the only known record of the dodo’s diet. It also mentions the dodo used its beak for defense. The letter uses wordplay, with dodos possibly representing wealthy mayors:
“The mayors were proud and had wide open mouths. They did not move easily and used their mouths as weapons. They ate raw fruit and were rich and fat. We captured many of them.”
In addition to fallen fruit, the dodo likely ate nuts, seeds, bulbs, and roots. Some scientists think it may have also eaten crabs and shellfish, like related crowned pigeons. Its eating habits were probably flexible because dodos on ships were given many types of food. A scientist named Oudemans suggested the dodo stored fat from ripe fruits during the wet season to survive the dry season when food was scarce. Reports describe the dodo as having a “greedy” appetite. A Mauritian scientist named France Staub proposed in 1996 that the dodo mainly ate palm fruits and linked its fat cycle to the fruiting patterns of palms.
The upper jaw bones of the dodo appear to have been movable, which likely affected how it ate. In modern fruit-eating pigeons, movable jaw parts help consume large food items. The dodo’s beak also seems strong enough to handle hard foods. A study of its brain model showed it had a large olfactory bulb, giving it a good sense of smell, which may have helped find fruit and small prey.
Several old records mention the dodo used gizzard stones (small rocks) to help digest food. An English writer named Sir Hamon L’Estrange saw a live dodo in London and wrote:
“In 1638, I saw a dodo in London. It was larger than a turkey and had thick legs. The keeper said it ate large pebble stones to help digestion. I saw the bird eat them and later pass them out.”
It is unknown how dodo parents fed their young, but related pigeons produce a special milk from their crops. Drawings of dodos show a large crop, which may have stored food and produced milk for their young. Scientists think the dodo’s size was limited by how much milk it could produce for its young.
In 1973, the tambalacoque tree, also called the dodo tree, was nearly extinct on Mauritius. Only 13 trees were left, all over 300 years old. A scientist named Stanley Temple believed the tree depended on the dodo to spread its seeds, as the seeds might only grow after passing through the dodo’s digestive system. He claimed the tree was nearly extinct because the dodo disappeared. However, reports from the 1940s showed the tree’s seeds could grow without being eaten by the dodo. Other scientists disagreed, suggesting the tree’s decline was exaggerated or that other extinct animals, like tortoises, fruit bats, or parrots, might have helped spread its seeds. Scientists Wendy Strahm and Anthony Cheke later studied this further.
Relationship with humans
Mauritius was visited by Arab ships during the Middle Ages and Portuguese ships between 1507 and 1513, but no one lived there during those times. No records of dodos from these visits are known, though the Portuguese name for Mauritius, "Cerne (swan) Island," may have referred to dodos. The Dutch Empire took control of Mauritius in 1598 and renamed it after Maurice of Nassau. The island was used to supply food for Dutch East India Company ships.
The first known descriptions of the dodo came from Dutch travelers during the Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia in 1598, led by admiral Jacob van Neck. These accounts were published in 1601 and included the first drawing of the bird. Early sailors who visited Mauritius were interested in the dodo mainly for food. A journal from 1602, written by Willem Van West-Zanen, noted that 24–25 dodos were hunted for meals. The birds were so large that two could not be eaten at one time, and their remains were salted for storage. A drawing from 1648 showed dodos being killed, along with a dugong and possibly Mascarene grey parakeets. The drawing was labeled with a Dutch poem translated in 1848:
"For food the seamen hunt the flesh of feathered fowl,
They tap the palms, and round-rumped dodos they destroy,
The parrot's life they spare that he may peep and howl,
And thus his fellows to imprisonment decoy."
Some early travelers found dodo meat unappetizing and preferred to eat parrots and pigeons. Others said the meat was tough but edible. Some hunters targeted dodos only for their gizzards, which were considered the most delicious part of the bird. Dodos were easy to catch, but hunters had to avoid their strong beaks.
The dodo and the red rail led Peter Mundy to wonder about their origins 230 years before Charles Darwin's theory of evolution:
"Of these two kinds of birds mentioned above, for all we yet know, not any are found outside this island, which lies about 100 leagues from St. Lawrence. A question may be asked how they should be here and not elsewhere, being so far from other lands and unable to fly or swim; whether by mixing of kinds producing strange and monstrous forms, or the nature of the climate, air, and earth altering the first shapes in long time, or how."
The dodo was interesting enough that living specimens were sent to Europe and the East. How many dodos survived the journey is unknown, and it is unclear how they relate to drawings and museum remains. Based on accounts, paintings, and specimens, Julian Hume concluded that at least eleven dodos reached their destinations alive.
Hamon L'Estrange described seeing a dodo in London in 1638, the only known account of a live dodo in Europe. In 1626, Adriaen van de Venne drew a dodo he claimed to have seen in Amsterdam, but it is unknown if it was alive. His drawing resembled Savery's Edwards's Dodo. Peter Mundy saw two live dodos in Surat, India, between 1628 and 1634. One may have been painted by Mansur around 1625. In 1628, Emmanuel Altham wrote to his brother in England about sending a dodo to him:
"Right wo and lovinge brother, we were ordered by ye said councell to go to an island called Mauritius, lying in 20d. of south latt., where we arrived ye 28th of May; this island having many goates, hogs and cowes upon it, and very strange fowles, called by ye portingalls Dodo, which for the rareness of the same, the like being not in ye world but here, I have sent you one by Mr. Perce, who did arrive with the ship William at this island ye 10th of June. [In the margin of the letter] Of Mr. Perce you shall receive a jarr of ginger for my sister, some beades for my cousins your daughters, and a bird called a Dodo, if it live."
It is unknown if the dodo survived the journey. The letter was destroyed by fire in the 19th century. The earliest known picture of a dodo in Europe is from a c. 1610 collection of paintings in the royal menagerie of Emperor Rudolph II in Prague. This collection also included other Mauritian animals, such as the red rail. The dodo, possibly a juvenile, appears to have been dried or embalmed and may have lived in the emperor's zoo. The presence of stuffed dodos in Europe suggests they were brought alive and died there. Taxidermists were not on visiting ships, and biological specimens were not preserved with spirits at the time. Most tropical specimens were saved as dried heads and feet.
One dodo was reportedly sent to Nagasaki, Japan, in 1647. Contemporary documents published in 2014 confirmed the story, showing the dodo arrived alive. It was meant as a gift and was valued equally to a white deer and a bezoar stone. It is the last recorded live dodo in captivity.
Like many animals that evolved without major predators, the dodo was fearless of humans. This fearlessness and inability to fly made the dodo easy prey, but human hunting was not the main cause of extinction. Some reports describe dodos being killed for food, but archaeological evidence shows little proof of this. Bones of at least two dodos were found in caves at Baie du Cap, which were not easily accessible to dodos due to rough terrain. The human population on Mauritius (1,860 km²) never exceeded 50 people in the 17th century, but they introduced animals like dogs, pigs, cats, rats, and crab-eating macaques, which destroyed dodo nests and competed for food. Humans also destroyed the dodos' forest habitat. The impact of these introduced animals, especially pigs and macaques, is considered more severe than hunting. Rats may not have been a major threat, as dodos were used to local land crabs.
Some believe the dodo may have already been rare or limited to certain areas before humans arrived, as it would have been unlikely to go extinct so quickly if it had lived everywhere. A 2005 expedition found subfossil remains of dodos and other animals killed by a flash flood. Such events may have worsened the dodo's survival. However, the dodo survived volcanic activity and climate changes, showing resilience in its ecosystem.
The date of the dodo's extinction is debated. The last widely accepted sighting was in 1662, when shipwrecked mariner Volkert Evertsz described birds on a small island off Mauritius, now called Amber Island:
"These animals on
Physical remains
The only remaining parts of dodo specimens taken to Europe in the 17th century are a dried head and foot at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, a foot that was once in the British Museum but is now lost, a skull at the University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum, and an upper jaw at the National Museum in Prague. The last two were found and recognized as dodo remains in the mid-1800s. Some old museum records mention stuffed dodos, but none are known to have survived. A dried foot owned by Dutch professor Pieter Pauw was described by Carolus Clusius in 1605. Its origin is unknown, and it is now lost, but it may have been collected during the Van Neck voyage. Many dodos displayed in museums today are actually made from feathers of other birds, often by British taxidermist Rowland Ward’s company.
The only known soft tissue remains, the Oxford head (specimen OUM 11605) and foot, came from the last known stuffed dodo. This dodo was first mentioned as part of the Tradescant collection in 1656 and moved to the Ashmolean Museum in 1659. It may have been the bird seen by Hamon L’Estrange in London, the bird sent by Emanuel Altham, or a donation by Thomas Herbert. Since the remains show no signs of being mounted, the specimen might have been preserved as a study skin. In 2018, scans of the Oxford dodo’s head showed lead shot inside its skin and bones, used for hunting in the 17th century. This suggests the dodo was shot before or after arriving in Britain. The circumstances of its death are unknown, and the lead pellets will be studied to determine where they were mined.
Some sources say the Ashmolean Museum burned the stuffed dodo around 1755 due to decay, saving only the head and leg. However, it is now believed the museum removed it from display to protect what remained. Over time, the soft tissue has degraded further. The head was dissected by Strickland and Melville, separating the skin from the skull. The foot is mostly bones, with only small pieces of skin and tendons left. Very few feathers remain on the head. The foot is smaller and more delicate than the London foot, suggesting it may have belonged to a female. The specimen was displayed at the Oxford museum from the 1860s until 1998, after which it was stored to prevent damage. Today, casts of the head are found in many museums worldwide.
The dried London foot, first mentioned in 1665 and moved to the British Museum in the 18th century, was displayed next to Savery’s Edwards’s Dodo painting until the 1840s. It was also dissected by Strickland and Melville. It was not posed in a standing position, suggesting it was taken from a fresh specimen, not a mounted one. By 1896, it was said to have no skin left, and only bones remain, though its current location is unknown.
The Copenhagen skull (specimen ZMUC 90-806) was part of Bernardus Paludanus’s collection in Enkhuizen until 1651, when it was moved to Gottorf Castle in Schleswig. After Danish forces occupied the castle in 1702, the collection was added to the Royal Danish collection. The skull was rediscovered in 1840 by J. T. Reinhardt. It may be the oldest known dodo remains brought to Europe in the 17th century. It is 13 mm shorter than the Oxford skull and may have belonged to a female. It was mummified, but the skin is now gone.
A partial skull (specimen NMP P6V-004389) in the National Museum of Prague was found in 1850 among the remains of the Böhmisches Museum. Other parts of this specimen are not present, and a partial limb in the museum appears to belong to a Rodrigues solitaire. It may be part of a stuffed dodo once in the menagerie of Emperor Rudolph II, possibly the one painted by Hoefnagel or Savery.
Until 1860, only four incomplete 17th-century dodo remains were known. Philip Burnard Ayres discovered the first subfossil bones in 1860, which were sent to Richard Owen at the British Museum, but Owen did not publish the findings. In 1863, Owen asked Bishop Vincent Ryan of Mauritius to notify him if dodo bones were found. In 1865, George Clark, a schoolmaster in Mahébourg, found many subfossil dodo bones in the Mare aux Songes swamp in southern Mauritius after a 30-year search inspired by Strickland and Melville’s work. Clark described his method in The Ibis journal: he sent workers to wade through the swamp, feeling for bones with their feet. After cutting away plants covering the deepest part of the swamp, they found many fossils. Harry Pasley Higginson, a railway engineer, also claimed to have found bones at the same time, leading to a debate over who discovered them first. Higginson sent bones to museums in Liverpool, Leeds, and York. The swamp yielded remains from over 300 dodos, but few skull or wing bones, possibly because upper bodies were washed away or scavenged. This is similar to findings of moa remains in New Zealand marshes. Most dodo remains from Mare aux Songes have a medium to dark brown color.
Clark’s discoveries revived interest in the dodo. Sir Richard Owen and Alfred Newton both wanted to describe the dodo’s body structure first. Owen bought a shipment of bones meant for Newton, causing rivalry. Owen described the bones in Memoir on the Dodo in 1866 but incorrectly based his reconstruction on Savery’s painting, making the dodo look too short and fat. In 1869, he corrected the stance, making it more upright. Newton shifted his focus to the Réunion solitaire. Bones not sold to Owen or Newton were auctioned or donated to museums. In 1889, Théodor Sauzier was sent to explore Mauritius and find more dodo remains in Mare aux Songes. He was successful and found remains of other extinct species.
Louis Étienne Thirioux, an amateur naturalist in Port Louis, found many dodo remains around 1900. He discovered the first complete subfossil skeleton outside Mare aux Songes and the only remains of a juvenile dodo, a now-lost tarsometatarsus. The complete skeleton was found in 1904 in a cave near Le Pouce mountain and donated to the Museum Desjardins (now the Natural History Museum, Port Louis). Thirioux’s heirs sold a second mounted skeleton (made from at least two skeletons and a reconstructed skull) to the Durban Museum of Natural Science in 1918. These two skeletons provide the most complete dodo remains, including previously
The white dodo
The idea of a "white dodo" (or "solitaire") on the island of Réunion is now considered incorrect, based on modern reports of the Réunion ibis and 17th-century paintings of white, dodo-like birds by artists Pieter Withoos and Pieter Holsteyn, which were found in the 19th century. The confusion began when Willem Ysbrandtszoon Bontekoe, who visited Réunion around 1619, wrote about fat, flightless birds called "Dod-eersen" in his journal, but did not describe their color. When his journal was published in 1646, it included an engraving of a dodo from Savery's "Crocker Art Gallery sketch." In 1625, Chief Officer J. Tatton first mentioned a white, stocky, and flightless bird as part of Réunion's wildlife. Other writers later made similar, occasional references.
In 1848, Baron Edmond de Sélys Longchamps named the bird Raphus solitarius, believing the accounts described a dodo species. When 17th-century paintings of white dodos were found in the 19th century, scientists thought they showed these birds. Oudemans suggested the difference between the paintings and older descriptions might be that the paintings showed female birds, meaning the species had different appearances for males and females. Some writers also thought the birds described were similar to the Rodrigues solitaire, as they shared the same name, or that both white dodos and solitaires lived on the island.
The Pieter Withoos painting, discovered first, seems to be based on an earlier painting by Pieter Holsteyn, of which three versions are known. According to Hume, Cheke, and Valledor de Lozoya, all depictions of white dodos likely came from Roelant Savery's painting Landscape with Orpheus and the Animals or copies of it. This painting is usually dated to 1611, though some suggest it was made later, after 1614 or even 1626. The painting shows a whitish bird, possibly based on a stuffed specimen in Prague. An inventory from the Prague collection of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, to whom Savery was contracted (1607–1611), mentions a "dirty off-white" bird called a walghvogel. Later paintings by Savery show greyish birds, possibly because he saw a different specimen. Cheke and Hume think the white color was due to albinism, while Valledor de Lozoya suggests it could be a juvenile trait, old taxidermy fading, or artistic choice.
In 1987, scientists described fossils of an extinct ibis species from Réunion, Borbonibis latipes, with a short beak, before linking them to the solitaire reports. Cheke suggested to Francois Moutou that the fossils might belong to the Réunion solitaire, and this idea was published in 1995. The ibis was later classified into the genus Threskiornis, combined with the name solitarius from R. solitarius. Birds in this genus are white and black with slender beaks, matching old descriptions of the Réunion solitaire. No fossils of dodo-like birds have ever been found on the island.
Cultural significance
The dodo is one of the most famous extinct animals. Its unique look made it a symbol in books and movies for things that are old or no longer used. For example, the phrase "dead as a dodo" means something is completely dead or no longer useful. Another phrase, "to go the way of the dodo," means to disappear or become forgotten. The word "dodo" is also used to describe someone who is slow or not very smart, as it was once thought to be easy to catch.
The dodo appeared in many stories, even before it went extinct. It was often used in European books to represent faraway places or to show someone who eats too much because of its large body. In 1865, the same year that scientists began sharing reports about dodo fossils, the dodo appeared as a character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Carroll may have included the dodo because he felt a connection to it, as he once introduced himself as "Do-do-dodgson" due to a speech problem. He and Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for the book's character, had visited a museum where dodo remains were displayed. The book's popularity made the dodo a well-known symbol of extinction. After the book, the dodo was often shown in exaggerated, cartoon-like ways, matching the mistaken idea that it was clumsy and doomed to disappear.
The dodo is used as a symbol in many places, especially in Mauritius. It appears on the country's flag, coins, and banknotes. It is also on the immigration form for Mauritius. A smiling dodo is the logo for Brasseries de Bourbon, a beer company on Réunion, which once believed a white dodo species lived there.
Environmental groups use the dodo to teach about protecting endangered animals. For example, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Park use the dodo as a symbol. The Center for Biological Diversity gives an award called the "Rubber Dodo Award" to people who harm nature. In 2011, a spider species, Nephilengys dodo, was named after the dodo to highlight the need to protect life in Mauritius. Two ant species, Pseudolasius dodo and Pheidole dodo, and a type of isopod, Hansenium dodo, were also named after the dodo.
Scientists have used the name "dodo" for parts of DNA to honor the bird's inability to fly. A gene in fruit flies that helps with flying was named "dodo." A type of genetic material from a plant was named DodoPi because it could no longer move within the plant's DNA.
In 2009, a 17th-century drawing of a dodo was sold at an auction for £44,450. It was originally expected to sell for £6,000. The artist is unknown, and it is unclear if the drawing was based on a real dodo or an earlier image. Some believe the drawing shows a stuffed dodo because the legs look dry.
The poet Hilaire Belloc wrote about the dodo in his 1896 book The Bad Child's Book of Beasts:
*The Dodo used to walk around,
And take the sun and air.
The sun yet warms his native ground –
The Dodo is not there!
The voice which used to squawk and squeak
Is now for ever dumb –
Yet may you see his bones and beak
All in the Mu-se-um.*