What May Be The True Reason Behind The Dodo Bird's Extinction

@celticeagle (158958)
Boise, Idaho
May 13, 2017 4:58pm CST
I was watching an episode of Mysteries At The Museum on the travel channel last night. One of the stories was about the dodo bird. It was really interesting. Scientists have said for many years now that the dodo bird went extinct because it was killed for food. It was extinct after its last sighting in the 1600's. This poor bird was fat and flightless. Had a big nose, very few feathers. You know the old saying "Dead as a dodo." It was a metaphor for stupidity and extinction. It was also popularized in the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But now the usual story of it's demise may not be totally true. It was said that the Dutch found the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and they hunted and ate the poor bird into extinction. A English palaeontologist and bird expert, Julian Pender Hume believes the birds met with an entirely different demise. In 1999 he travelled to the Island and with the help of archaeologists he dug up some of the Dutch's encampments. He found other bones other than the dodo and surmised that the Dutch did not have a diet solely on dodo. This bird expert feels that rats may have been the culprit. What really brought the dodo to extinction? Overwhelmed was the problem. Cattle, deer, goats and pigs were brought to the island but rats were the worst. They breeded to the thousands and fed on dodo chicks and eggs. He feels that this is how this bird became extinct. So, what do you think?
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3 responses
@EMuhungi (1712)
• Nairobi, Kenya
13 May 17
Its last sighting in the 1600's? That was a very long time since the dodo bird became extinct. How sure are they that it ever existed? Thats a long time though.
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@celticeagle (158958)
• Boise, Idaho
13 May 17
No proof it didn't.
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@celticeagle (158958)
• Boise, Idaho
14 May 17
@EMuhungi .....No, no sightings since the 1600's and the remains of animals in the Dutch's encampments were not of the dodo.
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@EMuhungi (1712)
• Nairobi, Kenya
14 May 17
@celticeagle Its remains were discovered?
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@eagletrek2 (5499)
• Kingston, New York
24 Aug 18
There a dodo bird in the white house now
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@celticeagle (158958)
• Boise, Idaho
24 Aug 18
That's the truth.
• United States
13 May 17
Could be a good theory yes. It is possible with them finding the bones and all. I can see that happening. It was a poor helpless but big bird.
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@celticeagle (158958)
• Boise, Idaho
13 May 17
Rather big, yes.But not very graceful as I have always thought of birds.
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