The rule of nature is clear, the strong survive. But what if for millions of years there was no danger around? Unfortunately, the result would be a huge disappointment, because even the smallest creature has evolved to protect itself from the predators around it; Except for the dodo bird. Arriving on an island in the middle of the ocean millions of years ago, the dodo bird evolved in such a comfortable environment that it didn’t even have a single feature to protect itself.
For many years, the dodo bird was thought to be a myth like a unicorn. Even after it turned out to be real, he was seen as a kind of stupid. However, if we look at the findings we have today, the dodo bird was actually a very strong and intelligent creature, but it still could not escape extinction. Let’s take a closer look at the story and features of the dodo bird, which is spoken about the possibility of its revival today.
The dodo bird first found its peaceful home millions of years ago:
The dodo bird, a species belonging to the pigeon family, lived on the island of Mauritius in the Mascarene Islands, located about 2,000 kilometers off Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius Island, a volcanic island, was literally a paradise for the creatures living in it.
The information about when the dodo bird came to Mauritius Island and thus its origin is not very clear. Some sources say that 26 million years ago, some 8 million years ago, the ancestors of the dodo bird discovered and settled on the island of Mauritius. Both histories provide ample time for the evolution of the dodo as we know it.
The dodo bird, which did not need to fly, became a solid runner:
Since we do not know the evolutionary origin of the dodo bird, we do not know exactly how well its ancestors were flying, but since they could come to an island in the middle of the ocean, it is not difficult to guess that they were birds that could fly thousands of kilometers without getting tired. But why fly again when we’ve found such a beautiful place?
Mauritius Island had an incredible ecosystem. Covered with subtropical forests, this island was both safe and extremely rich in food and water. Dodo birds also contributed to this ecosystem. They ate the fruits of a tree today called the dodo tree, scattering its seeds all over the island with their excrement, and thus enabling it to multiply.
While the nearest land was thousands of kilometers away, of course, the dodo bird did not want to leave this beautiful paradise and fly there again and settled on the island. Strong wings gave way to strong legs. In this way, he could go anywhere on the island and eat as he pleased. So it was starting to look like a big chicken you know.
The dodo bird features suggest that they are not as bulky as we thought:
Not much remains of the dodo bird. Since it is not possible for us to understand exactly what kind of physiology it has with a few feet, heads and bones, we got ideas from the pictures drawn in the following years. In these drawings, the dodo bird was depicted as a plump, weak and stupid creature.
The study by Leon Claessens, a paleontologist at the College of the Holy Cross, and his team in 2011 showed that all we knew was wrong. The team, which went to the island of Mauritius and developed new models by scanning even the smallest bone in 3D, revealed that the dodo bird is actually a very strong creature.
According to the models made, the dodo bird did indeed have wings that could not fly, but these wings were muscular enough to provide balance while running. His legs were developed in such a way that he could move deftly on even the steepest cliffs. Its powerful beak could deliver a bite so effective that it could easily injure a human. In other words, the dodo bird was actually a very powerful creature compared to its environment.
As powerful as it was, hunting the dodo was as easy as buying a chicken for barbecue from the butcher:
This idyllic atmosphere of the island of Mauritius was first disrupted by the Portuguese in 1505. The island of Mauritius, which became a frequent port for sailors after its discovery, was later colonized by the Dutch. It was the dodo bird who greeted these men who had come from the road hungry.
The dodo was a flightless bird that was about one meter long and weighed more than 20 kilograms. Since there was not a single natural predator on the island willing to hunt him, he had developed no defense mechanisms. Therefore, instead of running away from the sailors who came to the island, he went to them curiously.
Perhaps the sailors, who had not eaten fresh meat for months, immediately hunted this gray-black-feathered and rather meaty-looking animal. Maybe they were making the easy prey in their home because the dodo didn’t even run away from them at first. So the dodo bird had become a kind of buffet for sailors.
Why did the dodo bird become extinct?
Of course, it would be wrong to put all the blame on the sailors. Considering that even the most crowded colony group is about 250 people, even if all these people hunt dodo birds in the morning and evening, they cannot destroy all the birds. Since they hunt these birds for fresh meat, it is out of question for them to hunt and hide them abundantly.
So what happened to make the dodo bird completely extinct? Especially after the island was colonized, the settlers brought with them numerous animals such as pigs, goats, deer, monkeys, rats, cats and dogs. It is estimated that these animals are the real destroyers of dodo birds.
On the one hand, the creatures that came to the island later hunted the dodo birds themselves, and on the other hand, they ate their eggs and young. The dodo bird, which lays eggs only once a year because it is in a comfortable environment, has decreased rapidly. On the other hand, when people started to cut down the trees that feed the dodo, there was almost no living space left.
When was the dodo bird last seen?
It is estimated that the last dodo bird on the island of Mauritius was killed in 1681. In fact, not only the dodo bird, but also 24 of the 45 known bird species on the island have completely disappeared. Even those that did not perish during this period were destroyed in the 19th century by the felling of trees for tea and sugar plantations. Considering that the first arrival on the island was in the 1500s, the dodo bird disappeared completely within two centuries.
The reason why such a clear date is given is the dodo trees on the island. As we explained above, dodo birds ate the fruit of these trees and scatter their seeds with their excrement. Experts found that the oldest tree on the island was 300 years old and no new trees had sprouted since then. In other words, with a simple calculation, if there is no dodo tree sprout, there is no dodo bird.
Maybe we’ll start seeing dodo birds around again soon:
A genetic engineering company called Colossal Biosciences has been working hard in recent years. They have only one purpose, to revive extinct species. Species they plan to revive include the Tasmanian tiger, woolly mammoth and dodo bird. If the company’s plans are successful, it is possible that we may see a hybrid dodo bird species around in 2028, if not exactly itself.
We talked about the characteristics and story of the dodo bird, which became extinct hundreds of years ago, and explained the curious details about it. I think the most important lesson to draw from this story is that if we have wings, we must fly.
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