An island off the coast of Madagascar, Mauritius, was formerly home to an extinct bird known as the Dodo. Dodos, a bird closely related to pigeons and other doves, are frequently used as an example of a species’ demise due to human activity.
In the late 1500s, dodos were vulnerable to people and rodents, and the introduction of domesticated animals was due to their inability to fly or breed. Dodo was a few drawings and descriptions and a small collection of bones around a century later.
I Want To Know Where Dodos Lived
Before photography could record their extinction, the last of the Dodo’s taxidermies destroyed their resemblance. Natural History Museum (NHM) research associate Julian Pender Hume said to Vice that the so-called taxidermied Dodo on exhibit at NHM is constructed of goose and swan feathers that were glued to a model of a dodo by a man who hadn’t seen one before.
Modern researchers have to rely on historical paintings and other artwork and descriptions from early Arab and European travelers to Mauritius for proof of what dodos looked like in the wild. Unfortunately, these records aren’t always accurate.
In What City Did Dodo Reside?
Dodos lived on Mauritius, a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean now an independent state. About 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) southeast of Madagascar, Mauritius is a small island nation off the coast of Africa.
According to the Stanford University Department of Anthropology, when the Dutch East India Company established a settlement on Mauritius and its nearby islands in the 1600s, there was no permanent human population on either island. There were no more dodos to be found on the island since earlier visitors had brought in so many predators. Researchers stated in 2009 in the journal Oryx that deforestation has subsequently eliminated a large portion of the Dodo’s wooded habitat.
Did The Dodo Expire At A Certain Date?
The date of the Dodo’s extinction is not known for sure. According to research published in the journal Nature in 2004, dodo numbers declined distant from human observation around about 1662, unlike the thylacine, popularly known as the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). His last known individual died in captivity in 1936. Live Science stated in 2013 that there were sightings of dodos on Mauritius in the late 1680s. Dodo extinction may have occurred as late as 1690, according to a study published in Nature by researchers using a statistical approach.
What Happened To The Dodo?
According to National Geographic, the Dodo was wiped off by sluggish development and rapid environmental change. When predators arrived on the island, the flightless and slow-to-reproduce species was at risk because it relied on its surroundings.
Mauritius had no major land predators for millions of years before humans arrived. According to National Geographic, wildlife in Mauritius has adapted to diverse ecological niches. Still, these isolated species have been reluctant to respond to dangers from across the ocean. Because the dodos were thought to have no fear of people, the birds were readily captured and slaughtered by hungry Dutch sailors who landed on their island beaches.
Can We Get The Dodo Back?
De-extinction is often associated with cloning, according to Shapiro. There are two types of cloning, the first was the creation of Dolly the sheep in 1996, and the second was the creation of Elizabeth Ann, a black-footed ferret born in 2020. All of the DNA necessary for developing a live animal is present in adult cells. For example, egg cells can develop into skin, organs, blood, and bone cells by using the animal’s DNA as a template.
According to Shapiro, several reasons why resurrecting dodos would be difficult. A dodo clone is unlikely since there are limited sources of dodo DNA. A bird’s reproduction is complex, and there isn’t always a place for them to return to.
However, there are no known surviving cells from dodos, and there haven’t been any for hundreds of years or even longer. Shapiro suggested starting with a genome from a closely similar species and making changes to it until it resembled that of a dodo.