While the animal actually became extinct in 1662, it has been associated with a lack of intelligence and a variety of odd behavioural patterns ever since. Maybe that way, some species would live a little longer life.įeatured Image: BazzaDaRambler, CC BY 2.Dodos have appeared in children's classics over the years such as Alice in Wonderland and the movie Ice Age, and are often portrayed as rather clumsy of nature, often confined to being played purely for comic effect. We can’t save them all, for that matter, neither ourselves, but we can at least try. While we can’t control the natural course of events, we can still prevent species from disappearing by our mistakes. We, as humans, are responsible for the extinction of many species. Species evolve, adapt, trying their best to survive, but in the end nature has its final word. The true nature of this planet is constantly changing, evolving for better or worse. Not animals, not plants, perhaps not even humans. One thing history taught us is that nothing lasts forever. However, the fact the dodo had survived millions of years on that island before people came, suggests we are probably the main reason for their extinction. It’s unlikely the entire species to go extinct in that short period unless it was already rare. There is an ongoing debate whether humans were the main reason for the dodo extinction or other factors contribute, as well. Add the competition all animals had for the limited resources of food, and it’s easy to see why dodo birds went extinct. Dogs, pigs, and cats, all had been a threat to dodo nests. What made the dodo disappear from the earth, were the animals people brought with them. Not enough to cause the extinction of a species. Their size and inability to fly also made them an easy target for hunting.īut the hunting by humans was not the main reason why dodo birds went extinct.Īt that period, the human population in Mauritius was around 50 people. Living without predators made the dodo, for better or worse, fearless.Įven when it was captured, the dodo was never trying to escape. The dodo bird was massively hunted by sailors. Once humans arrived on the island everything changed. Throughout the years, the dodo evolved into the dodo we know today. And with no predators to be feared from, flying was just an unnecessary waste of energy. Their size was merely a product of the abundance of food. Without significant predators and an abundance of food, they were living in an animal paradise.įrom an evolutionary point of view, the dodo’s size and inability to fly were just an adaptation to its environment. In less than a century humans have done what nature couldn’t do for millions of years.ĭodo birds inhabited the isolated island of Mauritius. The first written records of the dodo bird were by Dutch sailors in 1598, and the last dodo bird anyone has seen was in 1662. Because of this, the last sighting of 1662 is taken as the only credible source of the dodo extinction. Visitors to the island may have confused the red rail with the dodo, therefore the belief they weren’t extinct. However, according to Alfred Newton, a British ornithologist, after their extinction, the name dodo was transferred to the red rail, a different bird species from the island. Other written records also show sightings of dodo birds after 1662. According to Isaac Johannes Lamotius, and his hunting reports, the last dodo bird was seen in 1688. Several written records suggest they didn’t go extinct in 1662. There is a lot of controversy about the date of the dodo’s extinction. In less than a century from its discovery, the dodo bird was already extinct. Their extinction was not noticed right away, however, it did happen very quickly. They can be seen in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. In the early 17th century, several specimens were brought to Europe, however, it’s uncertain how many of them had survived.Īmong those specimens probably were the dried head and foot, the only soft tissues of a dodo bird we have today. The last sighting of a dodo bird, according to a written report by Volkert Evertsz, a shipwrecked mariner of the Dutch ship Arnhem, was in 1662. Final Thoughts When did the dodo bird go extinct?
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