The Dodo and its Life

Picture from "The New Student´s Referene Work" (1914)

Since the dodo was not able to fly, it is still unclear how the bird got onto the Mascarene islands. Through genealogical tree surveys it was proven that the dodo-bird must be older than the islands themselves.

It is most likely that the ancestors of the dodo bird came from the drowned island chains of Asia to the Mascarene islands in the Indian Ocean Mauritius. Here the bird adapted to its environment. Its muscles and wings diminished, and the flight feathers changed into a soft, fluffy coat. The dodo fed upon fruits, berries and the vegetation of the land. With their huge beaks they were able to open up very tough fruits, such as Calvarias fruits. Explorers such as the biologist David Quammen found the evolution of the dodo-bird had occurred at when no more young plants of the Calvarias tree were found. No other animals were able to open the shell. David Quammen also argued that the extinction of the dodos caused an imbalance in the the ecosystem of the islands.

Since the dodo was not afraid of anyone, it was easy for the sailors to hunt and kill this extraordinarily fat and slow bird. More and more the islands became the sailors main source for food. The greatest enemy of the dodo turned out to be mankind who had fun catching and killing these awkward looking animals.

Johannes Lüttschwager:	„Die Drontenvögel“
David Quammen:	„The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction“
Georg Menting, Gerhard Hard:	„Vom Dodo lernen- Öko Mythen um einen Symbolvogel des Naturschutzes“
Clara Pinto-Correia:	„Return of the Crazy Bird- The Sad, Strange Tale of the Dodo“
Vincent Ziswiler:	„Der Dodo- Fantasien und Fakten zu einem verschwundenen Vogel“