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Fun facts about dodo birds8/25/2023 ![]() Many bones of solitaires have also been preserved. In the 19th century, research was conducted on a small quantity of remains of four specimens that had been brought to Europe in the early 17th century.Īll that remains of the dodo is a head and foot at Oxford, a foot in the British Museum, a head in Copenhagen, and skeletons, more or less complete, in various museums of Europe, the United States, and Mauritius. Its extinction was not immediately noticed, and some considered it to be a myth. The last widely accepted sighting of a dodo was in 1662. In the following years, the bird was hunted by sailors and invasive species, while its habitat was being destroyed. The first recorded mention of the dodo was by Dutch sailors in 1598. No records of dodos by these are known, although the Portuguese name for Mauritius, “Cerne (swan) Island”, may have been a reference to dodos. Mauritius had been visited by Arab vessels in the Middle Ages and Portuguese ships between 15, but was settled by neither. One sailor told about hearing the cries of a young dodo in its nest, which sounded “like that of a young goose.” ![]() ![]() There, the female would lay one egg, which she would protect and raise. Several people have described the nests the dodo made as being deep in the forest, in a bed of grass. Specifics about mating and incubation periods are not known. 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. It has also been suggested that the dodo might have eaten crabs and shellfish, like their relatives the crowned pigeons. The dodo used gizzard stones to help digest its food. In addition to fallen fruits, the dodo probably subsisted on nuts, seeds, bulbs, and roots. It has been depicted with brownish-grey plumage, yellow feet, a tuft of tail feathers, a grey, naked head, and a black, yellow, and green beak. As these vary considerably, and only some of the illustrations are known to have been drawn from live specimens, its exact appearance in life remains unresolved, and little is known about its behaviour. The dodo’s appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century. Subfossil remains show the dodo was about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) tall and may have weighed from 10.6 to 17.5 kg (23 to 39 lb) in the wild.īased on weight estimates, it has been suggested the male could reach the age of 21, and the female 17.
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