Dodo or Don't Dodo? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mauritius

Part of the reason we don't see dodos any more is because they were endemic to the small, isolated nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about two thousand kilometers away from the African mainland to the west. Although live specimens were allegedly transported across the seas during the seventeenth century, not much was to result from transplanting them elsewhere; they were positively unsuited to life outside their comfortable, suitable, hidden-away home.

Answer: Flightlessness

One of the reasons that dodos weren't getting anywhere was their inability to fly. Living in such a comfortable environment, unhunted by predators and able to eat at nearly any time, the dodo had no real reason to fly in the first place; evolution worked that ability out of their species over the years until it was eliminated entirely.

This was likely one of the largest contributing factors to the species' extinction.

Answer: Pigeons

Based on evolution studies, scientists linked the dodo to the Nicobar pigeon, native to the nearby Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This colourful bird is linked purely through DNA-- they share very few similarities otherwise-- but this does connect the dodo with other birds under the pigeon and dove umbrella.

Another similar bird, the Rodrigues solitaire (now extinct), was also found to be tenuously linked to the dodo. It, too, was flightless.

Answer: Three feet

Since these birds were last seen in the seventeenth century, the only basis we have for this knowledge is their skeletal remains and written accounts in literature and naval records. Standing at about a meter tall, the dodo also weighed as much as a small child.

These birds were hard to miss. Scientists dealing with their skeletons also discovered that these birds were very awkwardly composed; squat and unable to fly, they were thusly referred to as 'ground pigeons'.

Answer: Fruits

Based on the make-up and composition of the dodo, it's believed that these birds built most of their diets around Mauritius' native fruits, berries, nuts, and roots, subsisting on a wide variety of endemic items which lessened over time. And judging by the dodo's tendency towards plumpness, food wasn't scarce for the most part.

It's believed that dodos, in eating certain seeds and fruits, actually helped much of its endemic flora flourish, and when the dodos disappeared, the plants gradually thinned out as well.

Answer: One

Because of a lack of predators, dodos are believed to have laid their eggs one at a time, nesting on the ground since they couldn't reach higher perches in trees. During the late days of the dodo, eggs were transported back to Europe for a variety of reasons. Only one of these eggs is said to remain in a museum. That egg, however, is also theorized to be an ostrich egg, somehow, which was mistakenly regarded as a dodo egg.

The dodo's small clutch size is yet another contributing factor to their extinction.

Answer: Beak

The long, distinctive beak of the dodo was particularly interesting. Coloured in historical accounts as a mixture of black, green, and yellow, the dodo's beak was relatively large, stretching out to a sharper portion at the end used for cracking nuts and breaking into fruits.

The hook of the beak may also have been used to eat shellfish on the Mauritian shores. Considering the options, however, and the general lack of predators on Mauritius during the dodos' time there, the beak was the most suitable weapon.

Answer: Japan

According to an article in 'Historical Biology' from 2014, it was discovered in that a dodo was sent to Nagasaki, Japan, in the bird's final century, arriving alive and remaining there as an exotic pet before dying. Other attempts were made to send dodos abroad, especially to Europe, but many either died en route or in their new environments which, to be fair, were dissimilar in regards to climate. Very few live specimens were taxidermied for display.

Answer: Human interaction

Mauritius was rarely permanently inhabited, but when it did begin taking settlers, the small amount alone jolted the dodo in its secure, carefree ecosystem. By building on the dodo's islands, introducing new animals, and through hunting, people ended up spelling the end for these supposedly gentle creatures.

It's also believed that dodos were on the decline to begin with, having been at a low in their population by the time humans arrived.

Answer: 1662

After less than fifty years as a permanent Dutch settlement on the island of Mauritius, the dodo was declared extinct by 1662. While the Dutch left the island only fifty years after that (and the island was later taken by the French), it was too late for the dodo.

It's believed that the original Dutch settlers of Mauritius also wiped out the Mascarene coot and the Mauritian turtle dove as well as several endemic species that may never have been documented.