The Dodo

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird. It could have

been found in the island of Mauritius (Madagascar). The existent
animals closest to the dodo are the pigeons and doves. We can tell
from the fossils that it was about 1 metre tall and may have weighed
about 15 kg. The dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by
drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century.
As no complete dodo specimens exist it’s hard to determine his
appearance. Illustrations and written accounts are the primary
evidence for its external appearance. According to most
representations, the dodo had greyish or brownish plumage. The head
was grey and naked, the beak green, black and yellow.
A 1631 Dutch letter is the only account of the dodo's diet, and also
mentions that it used its beak for defence. Their diet was mainly
composed fallen fruits, but in addition to this the dodo probably
subsisted on nuts, seeds, bulbs, and roots. It has also been suggested
that the dodo might have eaten crabs and shellfish.
 The extinction
Like many animals that evolved in isolation from predators, the dodo was
entirely fearless of humans. This fearlessness and its inability to fly made the
dodo easy prey for sailors. Although some scattered reports describe mass
killings of dodos for ships' provisions, archaeological investigations have found
no evidence of human predation. The human population on Mauritius never
exceeded 50 people in the 17th century, but they introduced other animals,
including dogs, pigs, cats, rats which plundered dodo nests and competed for
the limited food resources. At the same time, humans destroyed the forest
habitat of the dodos. The impact of the animals on the dodo population is
today considered more severe than that of hunting.