What is the only living relative of the Dodo bird?

Brainyblonde

Scientists have determined, through DNA analysis, that the long-extinct dodo belongs in the dove and pigeon family. Its closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0227_0228_dodo.html Mar 30 04, 10:09 PM

peasypod

Yes, it is a pigeon but the closest living relative is a rare type of tooth billed pigeon only found in the Samoan Islands. It is called "Didunculus". Mar 30 04, 10:17 PM

Brainyblonde

Its closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon, which lives in the Nicobar Islands and Southeast Asia, and it is part of a group of large island-dwelling birds that spend a great deal of time on the ground. Other modern representatives include the crowned pigeons of New Guinea and the tooth-billed pigeon of Samoa. Earlier scientists had speculated that the dodo, and its closest relative, the also-extinct solitaire, descended from migratory African pigeons that got lost and colonized the islands. The genetic evidence clearly shows that the dodo and solitaire came from southeast Asia, where all their close relatives remain. http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=8310 Mar 30 04, 11:33 PM