Was There Ever Such A Bird As The Dodo?

Hundreds of years ago, on the island of Mauritius and other islands in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, there lived a bird called dodo. The bird had no enemies to defend itself against, so it did not develop any of the abilities most birds have. It could not fly, could not run fast and it had no instinct to fight or defend itself.

As a result it developed into quite a peculiar-looking creature. It was related to the pigeon family but it had no resemblance at all to the pigeon. It had a big body, round and fat about twice as large as a turkey's. Its legs were so short that it could scarcely support its own weight.

The tail of the dodo was only a little tuft of curly feathers, absolutely useless to it. It could not fly at all. The dodo's head was very large and ended in an enormous hooked bill.

In the year 1507, Portuguese explorers landed on the island of Mauritius and discovered this strange creature. Since it looked ridiculous and couldn't defend itself, they called it duodo, which means "simpleton". Later on, men brought hogs to this island, which destroyed the dodo's eggs and young, and by 1681 the bird was extinct.

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