Difference between revisions of "Dodo" - New World Encyclopedia
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Revision as of 16:02, 31 July 2006
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| Raphus cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758) |
The Mauritius Dodo (Raphus cucullatus, called Didus ineptus by Linnaeus), more commonly just Dodo, was a meter-high flightless bird of the island of Mauritius, located in the Indian Ocean to the east of Africa. The Dodo, now extinct, was native only to Mauritius and lived on fruit and nested on the ground.
Etymology
The origin of the word "Dodo" is controversial. The name may be related to the Dutch word "dodaars", a water bird known in English as the Little Grebe or Dabchick. Little Grebes are extant, or still living, but they are similar to the Dodo in that they have similar feathers on the hind end and are also clumsy walkers. Whether or not the Dutch named the Dodo after another bird it resembled is uncertain, but the Dutch are known to have called the bird the "walgvogel" ("ghastly bird") in reference to the way it tastes.
Adding to the mystery of where the Dodo's name came from is the fact that "dodo" has been part of the English language since 1628, and the Dutch did not reach Mauritius before 1638. According to The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, "dodo" comes from Portuguese doudo (more commonly doido currently) meaning "fool", or, as an adjective, "crazy." The Portuguese word doudo or doido may itself be a loanword from Old English (cp. English "dolt").
Yet another possibility, as author David Quammen noted in his book The Song of the Dodo, is "that 'dodo' was an onomatopoeic approximation of the bird's own call, a two-note pigeony sound like 'doo-doo'."
Description
In October 2005, Dutch and Mauritian researchers found a cache of 2,000-year-old bones from about 20 Dodos in Mauritius. These findings were made public in December 2005 by Naturalis, the Netherlands scientific institute in Leiden. The discovery was significant because the last complete stuffed bird burned in a fire at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum in 1755. As of 2006 no complete skeleton has ever been found.
Though no whole specimens are preserved, a number of museum collections contain Dodo skeletons that are composites, made up of the bones of different birds. A Dodo egg is on display at the East London museum in South Africa. The most complete remains of a single Dodo are a head and foot, on display at the Oxford Museum of Natural History. Analysis of genetic material recovered from this specimen proved that the Dodo was a member of the pigeon family and its closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) from the Nicobar Islands and nearby Southeast Asia (Shapiro 2002).
Nevertheless, 17th century paintings and drawings of birds brought back to Europe by travellers show the Dodo had blue-grey plumage, a 23-centimeter (9-inch) blackish hooked bill with a reddish point, stout yellow legs, a tuft of curly feathers high on its rear end, and stubby wings. Dodos were large birds, weighing about 23 kg (50 pounds).
The short wings were not used for flight, much like penguins' wings. The breastbone was too small to support the large pectoral muscles that would have been required for flight. Scienctists believe that Dodos evolved from a bird capable of flying that landed on Mauritius. Given the island ecology, with no predators and plenty of food, the Dodo's ancestor didn't need to fly, and eventually the flightless Dodo evolved.
The traditional image of the Dodo is of a fat, clumsy bird, but Andrew Kitchener, a biologist at the Royal Museum of Scotland, argues that the birds were actually lithe and athletic and that artists' renditions showed overfed captive specimens (Kitchener 1993). As Mauritius has marked dry and wet seasons, the Dodo probably fattened itself on ripe fruits at the end of the wet season to survive the dry season when food was scarce. With food readily available in captivity, Kitchener proposes that the birds gorged on an unrestricted diet, becoming plump.
Extinction
The source of the Dodo's extinction is not certain, but evidence suggests a natural disaster nearly wiped out the species before humans arrived on the island, reducing its population so severely that it fell below sustainable levels.
As with many animals evolving in isolation from significant predators, the Dodo did not fear people. This fearlessness combined with its inability to fly made it easy prey. (The island was first visited by the Portuguese in 1505, but the Dutch were the first permanent settlers on the island.)
When humans settled Mauritius they brought with them sheep, dogs, pigs, rats, and monkey, which had not existed on the island before. These animals plundered Dodo nests, while humans destroyed the forests where they made their homes and found food.
Some controversy surrounds the extinction date of the Dodo, and estimates range from the middle of the 17th century to 1715. David Roberts states that "the extinction of the Dodo is commonly dated to the last confirmed sighting in 1662, reported by shipwrecked mariner Volkert Evertsz", but other sources suggest 1681.
Roberts points out that because the sighting prior to 1662 was in 1638 (i.e. 24 years earlier), the Dodo was likely already very rare by the 1660s. However, statistical analysis of the hunting records of Isaac Joan Lamotius, carried out by Julian Hume and coworkers, gives a new estimated extinction date of 1693, with a 95% confidence interval of 1688 to 1715.
The last known Dodo was killed less than 100 years after the species' discovery. No one took particular notice of the extinct bird until it was featured in the Caucus race in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). With the popularity of the book, the Dodo became perhaps the best-known extinct animal and "dead as a Dodo" became a household phrase.
Use as a symbol
- The Dodo rampant appears on the Coat of arms of Mauritius.
- The Dodo is the symbol of the Brasseries de Bourbon, a popular brewer on Réunion Island.
- The Dodo is the symbol and mascot of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoological Park, founded by Gerald Durrell.
- The Dodo is the name, symbol and mascot of Finnish environmental organization Dodo. [1]
- Dodo is the name of an Australian internet and phone service provider. Its mascot is a blue-feathered, yellow-beaked 'dodo' that could fly.
Dodos in popular culture
The Dodo's significance as one of the best-known extinct animals and its singular appearance has led to its widespread use in literature and popular culture.
See also
- Extinct birds
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Fuller, E. 2003. Dodo : from extinction to icon New York: Universe Books.ISBN 0789308401
- Hume, J. P., D. M. Martill, and C. Dewdney. 2004. Dutch diaries and the demise of the dodo. Nature 429: 622
- Kitchener, A. 1993. Justice at last for the dodo. New Scientist 139: 24-7
- Pinto-Correia, C. 2006. Return of the Crazy Bird: the sad, strange tale of the dodo. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 0387988769
- Quammen, D. 1996. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction Scribner: New York ISBN 0684827123
- Roberts, D. L., and A. R. Solow. 2003. When did the dodo become extinct? Nature 426: 245.
- Shapiro, B., et al. 2002. Flight of the Dodo. Science. 295(5560):1683
External links
- 2006 Mauritius Dodo Expedition - Expedition Weblog
- Dodo skeleton find in Mauritius
- Dodos at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
- 2005 discovery on Mauritius
- Scientists find 'mass dodo grave'
- Dodo DNA/Protein sequence at the NCBI
- David Reilly: The Tragedy of the Dodo
- David Reilly: Dodo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- A collection of dodo related information and pictures.
- The daily diary of most recent research trip to Mauritius to look for dodo remains
- Bird Life InternationalBirdLife International 2004. [2]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species., World Conservation Union. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
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