The Dodo also Raphus cucullatus refers to the flightless bird, which are uniquely found in the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. When compared with pigeons and doves it is longer by a metre and survives on fruits with the nests formed on ground. However dodo birds have underwent extinction during the middle and the end of the 17th century.
The Encarta Dictionary and Chambers Dictionary of Etymology highlights the source of the term dodo from the Portuguese doudo, which carries the meaning as fool or crazy. The dodo birds have a close relation with the pigeons and doves of today. The analysis based on mtDNA cytochrome b as well as 12S rRNA sequences reveals that the ancestor of this bird had their divergence from its close members called as the Rodrigues Solitaire, which are found near the boundary of Paleogene-Neogene.
A study based on similar grounds highlights the fact that in Southeast Asia, Nicobar Pigeon is the nearest surviving relative of the dodo birds as well as the Reunion Solitaire. The famous site dealing with the remains of dodo called as the Mare aux Songes was developed in October 2005 by few researchers working on an international level. This resulted in the discovery of a large amount of the remaining parts of the bird like bones having connection with the different stages of maturity as well as that of the skeletons belonging to a single bird.
The reports on them were brought out before the public on December 2005 in the Naturalis that is in Leiden. Even the Natural History Museum of Dublin and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has some specimen of the remains of dodo birds. The East London museum that is in South Africa has an egg of Dodo displayed. As per Stanley Temple the food that was eaten by them was tambalacoque, which was also referred to as the dodo tree.
The seeds of this tree germinated only when they went through the digestive tract of dodo birds. the coat of arms of Mauritius highlights the Dodo rampant. The symbol of the famous brewer on Reunion Island called as Brasseries de Bourbon is the smiling dodo. It is also used for reference in many literature works as expressions like dead as a dodo or gone the way of the dodo. The novel namely Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon revolves round a Dutch sailor cum explorer and his experiences with the dodo birds.
Dodo
