The Real Story Of The Dodo Bird's (Current) Extinction

Another little known fact about the Dodo was that an economically important tree on Mauritius was totally dependent upon the dodo. When it was realized that there was no new growth of this tree, for a few hundred years, a European scientist was dispatched to Mauritius to figure out how to get the trees fruit to germinate. He eventually had some turkeys brought to the island and fed them the fruit of the tree. Voila, after the seeds were excreted by the turkeys they started the germination process. It turns out that the trees relied upon the Dodos digesting the seeds to prepare its tough outer husk for germination. A classic example of how one species going extinct causes other species to also go extinct.

Volkert Evertsz: "We drove them together into one place in such a manner that we could catch them with our hands, and when we held one of them by its leg, and that upon this it made a great noise, the others all on a sudden came running as fast as they could to its assistance, and by which they were caught and made prisoners also." Sounds like another (but harder to prove) trait of the Dodo not mentioned in the video is their social cohesion. This likely also helped them survive as long as they did. Unfortunately, all we can go with for behavioral traits is accounts like these.

As a bird lover it always breaks my heart to hear about the dodos. It would have been a truly unique and marvelous bird to see.

The dodo gets all the press, but there were also two nearby islands with similar birds that also went extinct: the Reunion solitaire and the Rodriguez solitaire. There were several other birds to disappear from these islands as well as from Mauritius. How sad they are not remembered.

If you guys haven’t yet, could you do a video about why pigs seem so well adapted for everywhere

This is one of the few times I've seen de-extinction being reported in a positive way

In addition to rats and pigs, I read that humans introduced monkeys as well, which also ate the Dodo eggs. Also, I read that they weren't normally as fat as they're often portrayed, because the paintings were based off of a captive dodo that was massively overfed.

*20 years from now* "Welcome...to Dodo Park!" "They're moving in herds...they DO move in herds..."

I would love to hear about the geological and ecological history of the Indian peninsula/sub-continent. Like what creatures lived on it when it was it's own sub-continent.

All this time, I didn't know the dodo was only on one island. I don't remember when I first learned about them, but they seem pretty pervasive in popular knowledge. Strange when they were only around humans for about 60 years in one small place. Glad for the chance to learn more!

They seemed like the perfect birds to tame. But history had its own course and time line. 😢

The evolution of elephants is something I’d love to see covered! Like what on earth drove the evolution of their trunks??? And there are so many weird extinct elephants!!!

I think that even if the dodos were brought back in today's world, they're going to be met with the same challenges they did back then: pigs and rats eating their eggs. So unless they're adapted to handle egg-eating mammals, either through new brooding or nesting behaviours or through aggressive adaptations, I think it's unlikely that they'll remain de-extinct for long

Its cousin and neighbour form a nearby island, the Rodrigues solitaire, which suffered the same fate for the same reasons, does look closer to pigeons in its physical descriptions.

I really hope they bring it back someday.

Dodos look so bizzare and interesting that it's hard for me to believe they were once real animals. This is one of the few de-extinction candidates that I actually look forward to, if it ever happens. Especially because it's an island species, the dodo could be an interesting and contained study on de-extinction if we ever need to implement it

One of the Dutch names for the Dodo was ‘Walgvogel’ (Disgusting Bird) because their meat seamed to have been tough and horrible.

I'm from Mauritius and really glad that Eons decided to shed more light on this emblematic bird which, despite popular assumptions, is really a matter of pride to us 🇲🇺 🦤

my ancestor was named Willem bontekoe. he drew the dodo in his journal and it was later adapted into the famous stort of “the cabin boys of Willem Bontekoe” took place in the 1600s. this story inspired the east indian trading company which lead to more dutch travelers to the island.

Well done PBS, nice to our work staged here and presented in a didactic great and appealing way! The dodo and it’s ecosystem represents an amazing study system to understand insular species evolution. We are currently working on some more novel insights on the dodo, we will keep you posted ;-) Warm regards dr Kenneth Rijsdijk