The history of our planet knows many cases when some species of animals disappeared without being studied. And the dodo bird is a great example. Immediately make a reservation that such a species in the world did not exist! Dodo is a fabulous character who appeared in the book Alice in Wonderland.
So began to be called the extinct endemic of the island of Mauritius - the Mauritius Dodo (Raphus cucullatus). We’ll talk about him today, using his “nickname" for convenience.
So, what is this bird, and why is its name for many associated with the Red Book and the word "extermination"?
Not too long ago, even by historical standards, birds of the Drontov family lived on the island of Mauritius. There were no people here, predators were also absent as a class, and therefore the dodo bird was extremely stupid and clumsy.
The ability to quickly hide from danger or somehow get food from them was absent, since there was plenty of food.
It is not surprising that they soon squandered their last ability to fly, their height began to reach a meter at the withers, and their weight was at least 20-25 kg. Imagine the largest and most fat goose doubled. The dodo bird had such a massive and heavy belly that most of the time he simply dragged it along the ground.
These birds lived in solitude, pairing only for the duration of the
mating season. The female laid only one egg, and therefore both parents watched him anxiously, protecting from all dangers (of which there were not many).
The dodo bird lived not only on the above island, but also on Rodriguez: both places belong to the Mascarene archipelago located in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Moreover, the hermit dodo lived on Rodriguez, who belonged to a completely different species.
In Mauritius, these unique birds lived until 1681, while the "hermits" were lucky to survive until the beginning of the 19th century.
As it happened, it all ended right after the appearance of the Europeans on the archipelago. First, the Portuguese, and then the Dutch felt that there was no ship supplies in the world better than dodoes.
They did not need to be hunted: come closer, hit the huge turkey with a stick on the head - that’s the supply of meat. The birds did not even run away, as their weight and gullibility did not allow this.
However, even people could not destroy as many dodos as were eaten by those they brought with them: dogs, cats, rats and pigs made a real feast, eating thousands of chicks and eggs. A dodo bird, whose photo does not exist (only drawings), very quickly turned out to be almost completely destroyed.
Unfortunately, all over the world there is not even a complete skeleton of at least one of the destroyed species. The only complete set of the Mauritius dodo was stored in the London Museum, but it burned down during a terrible fire in 1755.
In fairness, I must say that they still tried to help these birds. Hunting was completely prohibited, and surviving individuals were kept in cages. However, in captivity, the extinct Dodo bird did not breed, and rats and cats doomed the death of those few dodo who were still hiding in the dense forests.
This story once again recalls the fragility of natural biotopes and the greed of a person who comes to his senses too late.