Dead as a Dodo

by David Staley
dragonraid@yahoo.com

Off the coast of Africa, 550 miles East of Madagascar, is a group of three islands known as the Mascarene Islands. The largest of these islands is named Mauritius. Mauritius is an island of volcanic origin and is surrounded by coral reefs. It is extremely hilly, and before the Europeans arrived in the 16th Century and began to grow sugar cane, cotton, and tobacco, it was filled with lush bamboo trees and vegetation. Also, before the Europeans arrived, Mauritius had no indigenous land mammals or amphibians. It was here that the Gray Dodo lived until the late 17th Century.

The earliest known account of the Dodo is found in a journal entry of an expedition that was made to the island in 1598, although engravings of images that appear to be of the Dodo have been found that date as early as 1561. The first written account which actually used the name Dodo is found in the 1628 letter of Emanuel Altham where he writes, "Very strange fowles called by ye portingals Do Do." Early claims to the origin of the Dodo name has been made to that of its apparent simpleness, but other speculation has been given to the name referring instead to the sound of the bird's call.

The Gray Dodo was a flightless bird. Its plumage was generally gray, being darker on the upperparts and lighter on the throat and abdomen and the tail feathers were off-white. It had a green or black beak, whitish eyes, and the bare parts of its face were ash-colored. Its feet and legs were yellow. It was just over 3 feet long and made its crude nests upon the ground and laid a single white egg. Some speculate that the bird weighed nearly 50 pounds and was clumsy and slow-moving. However, some feel that the Dodo was more muscular and agile. There has also been debate over the years concerning the classification of the Dodo. Through time it has been classified as a relative of the Ostrich, Swan, and the Turkey. However, in the mid 19th Century, Professor Reinhardt of Copenhagen suggested that the Dodo was in the family of the Pigeon which is what is commonly agreed upon today as the correct classification.

It is hard to be certain exactly what the Dodo looked like. There are many engravings and prints done of the Dodo, but each one seems to have its own interpretation on the appearance of this enigmatic bird. There are some skeletal remains which help to shed some insight on the Dodo, but only an incomplete picture of the true nature of this bird is given. As for true specimens of the Dodo, there have been no full specimens since 1755, when the last one was destroyed. Thankfully, that specimen's head and right foot were preserved to give some of the few rare relics to this famed extinct bird.

One fact does remain about the Dodo. The Dodo was easy prey to man and to the predators that they introduced the islands. The Portuguese introduced hogs, goats, and fowl to the island early on, and surely rodents from European sailing vessels made their way onto the shores of Mauritius. The "Dodos whose fflesh is very hard", was an easily obtained meal for both man and beast. Also, their exposed nests offered no protection from the new inhabitants of the island. In the common mode of exploration and exploitation, man had marked this vulnerable bird for extinction. The last report of living Dodo birds was given in the account of Benjamin Harry's 1681 visit to Mauritius.

To find out more about the Dodo, the following books are excellent resources. Although they may be hard to locate they are well worth the search.


Fuller, Errol.  Extinct Birds.  Viking/Rainbird.  
     New York/London.  1987.

Hachisuka, Masauji.  The Dodo and Kindred Birds 
     (or The Extinct Birds of The Mascarene Islands).
     H. F. & G. Witherby LTD.  London.  1953.

Also, the following websites are well worth the visit to view images and get more information on the Dodo.

A Great info page.
Dodo Island, seller of Dodo products
Extinct Birds email discussion list

~finis~