Dodo Bird

The Dodo bird is now extinct. It had been for more than 300 years. The only remnants left are scattered bones that are on display at museums. There isn’t one whole bird intact anywhere. Where did they go? Well, they once lived on an island off the coast of Madagascar, called Mauritius. They were safe on the island. They were able to build their nests on the ground (out of need because they could not fly) and they were able to live peacefully. But that all changed when sailors started to inhibit the island. That is when the birds started dying off. The people were invading their forest and they brought pets, which also ruined their nests, brought danger to their eggs and eventually caused all of the Dodo birds to die. The birds didn’t have the survival techniques necessary to defend themselves because in the past they had not needed any. They didn’t have a chance at fighting against the dogs, pigs and other animals the sailors brought to the island.When these sailors first landed on the island of Mauritius, they were greeted by their friendly, yet clumsy birds. The sailors misread the bird’s actions as them being dumb (which was not the case) and called them the Dodo bird. Since then, when we used the term dodo to describe someone, we are often referring to the clumsy nature of this long-extinct Dodo bird.The Dodo bird was a large, flightless bird. Though he had wings, there were very small in comparison with the size of his body. The average Dodo bird weighed approximately 50 pounds and it was not possible for them to lift their heavy bodies with their tiny wings. They had large, unusually looking beaks that were nine inches long, black and had a funny hook on the end. They also had short, stout yellow legs. Their bodies were mainly gray and blue and they had a tuff of white feathers as a tail. The Dodo bird is related to the pigeon family of birds.