Dodo bird: the story of extermination

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

The history of our planet knows many cases when some species of animals disappeared without being studied. And the dodo bird is a great example of this. Immediately make a reservation that such a species in the world did not exist! Dodo is a fairy-tale character that appeared in the book Alice in Wonderland.

This is how the extinct endemic of the island of Mauritius, the Mauritius dodo (Raphus cucullatus), began to be called. We will talk about him today, for convenience, using his “nickname”.

So, what kind of bird is this, and why do many people associate its name with the Red Book and the word "extermination"?

Not too long ago, even by historical standards, birds of the Dodo family lived on the island of Mauritius. There were no people here, predators were also absent as a class, and therefore the dodo bird was extremely stupid and clumsy.

They lacked the ability to quickly hide from danger or somehow get food, as there was plenty of food.

It is not surprising that they soon squandered their last ability to fly, their height began to reach a meter at the withers, and their weight was at least 20-25 kg. Imagine the largest and fattest goose, enlarged intwice. The dodo bird had such a massive and heavy belly that most of the time it just dragged along the ground after it.

These birds lived in solitude, joining in pairs only during the mating season. The female laid only one egg, and therefore both parents anxiously looked after him, protecting him from all dangers (of which there were few).

The dodo bird lived not only on the above island, but also on Rodrigues: both places belong to the Mascarene archipelago, located in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Moreover, a hermit dodo lived on Rodriguez, belonging to a completely different species.

In Mauritius, these unique birds lived until 1681, while the "hermits" were lucky to survive until the beginning of the 19th century.

As it happened, everything ended immediately after the appearance of Europeans on the archipelago. First the Portuguese, and then the Dutch, decided that there were no better ship supplies in the world than dodos.

They didn't have to be hunted: come closer, hit the huge turkey on the head with a stick - that's the stock of meat. The birds did not even run away, as their weight and gullibility did not allow it.

However, even people could not destroy as many dodos as those they brought with them ate: dogs, cats, rats and pigs made a real feast, eating thousands of chicks and eggs. The dodo bird, whose photo does not exist (only drawings), very quickly turned out to be almost completely destroyed.

Unfortunately, all over the world there is not evencomplete skeleton of at least one of the destroyed species. The only complete set of the Mauritian dodo was kept in the London Museum, but burned down during a terrible fire in 1755.

To be fair, it must be said that they still tried to help these birds. Hunting was completely banned, and the surviving individuals were kept in enclosures. However, in captivity, the extinct dodo bird did not breed, and rats and cats condemned to death those few dodos that were still hiding in the deep forests.

This story once again reminds us of the fragility of natural biotopes and the greed of a man who realizes too late.