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The dodo is an extinct bird native
only to Mauritius. Its scientific name is Raphus
curcullatues. The dodo is a member of the pigeon; it is
a bird that could not fly because of its small wings and
because of its weight. A dodo weighed between 13 and 23
kg. From the records information and pictures from the
dodo, it seems that it was plump, large bird covered in
soft, grey feathers, with on its tail a plume of white.
It had small wings, which were quite weak to lift the
dodo off the ground. Those who saw the bird thought it
had no wings and described it as “little winglet”. After
the study of the skeleton it was revealed that the dodo
had in fact wings but was not used to fly as the
penguins wings. The dodo had short and stubby yellow
legs with four toes at its end, three in front and one
as a thumb in back and all with thick black claws. The
heads’ color had a lighter grey than the body and small
yellow eyes. The dodo had a hooked and crooked beak;
many words had been given to its long beak. It was pale
yellow or light green. It was described as grotesque and
was one of most distinguishing feature of the dodo. The
Portuguese were the first European to discover the dodo
in 1505 and by 1681 it was drove to extinction by
humans, pigs, rats, feral dogs and monkeys which were
introduced by Europeans on the island.
The dodos served the humans as food, which was its main
purpose. The sailors who frequently visited the island
fed on wildlife while staying here, although it seemed
that the meat of the dodo was not really tasty. And
still it was hunted intensely sometimes the sailors
brought back to 50 per day. And those they could not
eat, they salted it and brought it back with them. The
sailors even tried to bring back alive dodos with them. |
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