DODO



The dodo is probably the best known of the recently extinct animals, though much of its existence are somewhat of a mystery.  There are so many references to the dodo in pop culture which I thought fitting to add at the end of today's post. Will Cuppy summed up cultural perception of the Dodo when he stated, "The Dodo never had a chance.  He seemed to be invented for the sole purpose of going extinct and that is all he was good for."

 The Dodo bird was a very unique bird, who wasn't adapted to predators.  The Dodo was a 3 foot tall, 50 pound flightless member of the pigeon family that lived east of Madagascar on the island of Mauritius. 

 The dodo was eaten for food, even though sailors didn’t like the taste.  The dodo was labeled as foolish, because it was curious and didn’t fear people.  It is reported that sailors could knock on trees in the forest and the dodos would come to investigate the new noise. The tambalacoque tree also known as the "dodo tree" was thought to have almost gone the way of the dodo, but that'll be a species for the next post. 

Even though they were used by sailors for food, the accidental introduction of invasive species like rats and snakes to Mauritius soon affected the dodo.  Dodos had no way to protect their eggs from these new threats.

It went extinct sometime between 1662 or in 1681 (there are various "last accounts").

Interesting to note there are no complete specimens of the dodo left, just a foot and skull that were saved from destruction.

 Additional Resources:

* http://www.birdorable.com/meet/dodo/

* http://www.dodobird.net/

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qtFKaVRUDk 

* https://www.12images.net/galleries/extinct-animals/dodo-of-mauritius/
There are no complete Dodo specimens but here's a model
Image from Wikipedia. 
http://wildkratts.wikia.com/wiki/Back_in_Creature_Time_Day_of_the_Dodo 


Dodo on episode of Wild Kratts - Image from PBS.org

A Dodo from the movie Ice Age 

The Dodo as depicted in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KAWEKAWEAU (DELCOURT'S GIANT GECKO)

Image
The Kawekaweau was the largest member of the gecko family that lived in New Zealand.  It was nearly 24 inches long, which is about twice as large as any other gecko species ever known.  It was the width of a man's wrist and had reddish stripes running the length of its body. Scientists thought that the Kawekaweau was simply a legend for a long time. The name Delcourt comes from the French scientist who rediscovered the only known specimen of of the Kawekaweau in the Natural History Museum of Marseille in 1986. The last recorded living Kawekaweau was in 1870 by a Maori chief.  It is thought that the arrival of Europeans and the invasive species they brought; rats, cats, and weasels took their toll on the Kawekaweau. Additional Resources: http://gizmodo.com/this-specimen-of-an-extinct-giant-gecko-was-found-in-a-1742435773 Drawing from the book, A Gap in Nature The only known specimen of a Kawekaweau
Read more

Visiting Lonesome George in NYC and Martha the Passenger Pigeon in DC

Image
I started this blog  to point out animals you'll never get a chance to meet first hand.  No, I'm not talking about unicorns or centaurs, but about recently extinct animals.  2014 was a big one in extinction news because it marked the 100 year anniversary of the passenger pigeon, when Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914 at 1pm.  I took my family to the Cincinnati Zoo, but Martha's statue wasn't there because they were building a memorial that opened a few weeks after our visit. My wife and I also got to see the real Lonesome George who was on display in New York at the Natural History Museum, before being shipped back to be displayed in the Galapagos.  
Read more

YUNNAN LAKE NEWT

Image
The Yunnan Lake Newt (YLN) was a newt that lived in the region in and around Kunming Lake in the Yunnan Providence in China.  The YLN was about an inch long and the male and female coloration varied slightly. The Yunnan Lake Newt was last seen in 1979.  As the cities around its lake habitat increased, its population plummeted. Amphibians like frogs, salamanders, and newts are extremely vulnerable to pollution because they absorb water, oxygen, and even toxins through their porous skin.  There are many concerns for many amphibian species today (see 2nd link below). Besides pollution, habitat loss for increased housing also took its toll on the YLN population.  The addition of invasive species were the nail in the coffin for this species.  The newts couldn't compete with the addition of domestic ducks, exotic fish and frogs added to the lake. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: http://www.edgeofexistence.org/amphibians/species_info.php?id=1367 http://frogsaregreen.org/tag/yunnan-lake-n
Read more