GCSE activity

The dodo became extinct in the 1600s.

Animals become
extinct because of:

• changes to the
environment
• new predators
• new diseases
• new competitors

Which of these reasons was to blame for

the extinction of the dodos?

© Snapshot Science, 2010

 GCSE activity

Why did the dodo become extinct?

The dodo was a flightless bird around 1m in height that lived on
the island of Mauritius.

Dodos had never encountered humans before they arrived on the

island and so were not fearful of them. This meant that they
were easy to catch, and some were eaten, although reports from
Mauritius
the time suggested that they were not very tasty.

However, the first settlers on the island brought with them new
animals to the island such as dogs, pigs, cats and rats. These
animals raided the dodo’s nests (which were on the ground) and
ate the eggs.

Humans also destroyed the forests where the dodos lived in order
to build homes and create farmland.

An expedition to Mauritius in 2006 aimed to find more out about the dodo and how it
became extinct.
A mass grave full of the remains of many different animals, including the dodo, was found.
Scientists dated it to around 500 years old, before the settlers came to the island, and
suggested that the cause was a flash flood, cyclone or some other natural disaster.
The fact that the numbers of dodos living on the island was already depleted by this event,
may have contributed to its extinction.
© Snapshot Science, 2010