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The Dodo
Then later the Dutch
used the island for a penal colony so pigs and monkeys were brought to
Mauritius. Also rats who stole a ride You are probably wondering how we use the name dodo to say someone is stupid, when this bird died out so long ago. Well the truth is the dodo was a pretty dumb bird. They still have some body parts (the head and feet) of the dodo saved in museums! Citations Web
Sites Craig Kasnoff. "The Dodo Bird" at <www.bagheera.com/inthewild/ext._dodobird.htm> (April 2003). University of Michigan. "Raphus cullatus" at
<http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/raphus/r._cucullatus$narrative.html> Encyclopedias Alan Feduccia.
"Dodo," World Book Online Americas Edition, at Images Image of dodo bird from "ArtToday.com" <http://members.clipart.com/en/index> (2003). Image of black dodo from "Microsoft Office Design Gallery Live" <http://dgl.microsoft.com/?CAG=1> Images free for non-profit and personal use. (December-April, 2003). |
The dodo was 50 pounds and
flightless. It was about the size of a large turkey. They ate the fruit off the
trees and fished in little pools with their enormous beaks. Can you believe
that the dodo ate rocks to help them digest? They were killed for oil and food. This flightless bird
lived on the island of Mauritius. They lived alone, until 1505 which is when the
first humans set foot on Mauritius-the-Portuguese.
came ashore. The
dodo eggs
were soon gone thanks to the pigs, monkeys, and rats. Now that people
inhabited the island food was needed, and guess who was on the menu - the dodo. The used-to-be well populated
dodo was now becoming the unpopulated dodo. The dodo was one of the 45 bird species of Mauritius, but not
one of the 21 to survive.