1. Dodo - Raphus cucullatus GEL 103 Final Presentation Professor Mark Lawler Presentation by Melissa Dyer
2. Table of Contents Dodo genus Characteristics Range and Habitat History Ancestral Connections Extinction Prehistoric Extinction Cloning Resources
3. Dodo Bird--Raphus cucullatus Kingdom Animalia (animals) Phylum Chordata (chordates) Class Aves (birds) Order Columbiformes (pigeons) Family Raphidae (dodos and solitaires) Genus Raphus Species Raphus cucullatus Authority (Linnaeus, 1758)
4. Dodo Bird Characteristics The name Dodo is believed to have derived from the Dutch word “dodoor” meaning “sluggard” which represents its looks and appearance. The length of the dodo was about 100cm (3ft, 3in) and weighed up to 20 kg. It had large legs, short little wings, a short neck and a 23cm long enormous thick, bowed beak. At the end of its thickset figure the dodo had a tussle feathers. The plumage of the dodo was greyish with darker upperparts and lighter on throat and abdomen. The tail feathers were whitish. The thighs were blackish. The bare part of the face was probably ash-coloured, while the feet and legs were yellow. The iris was probably whitish, and its beak green or black, perhaps with some yellow. (Fuller, 2000)
5. Range and Habitat Dodo birds were once the inhabitants of Mauritius, a small, island which lies approximately 500 miles east of Madagascar. Although Mauritius has many different regions, the dodo mainly resided in the forests. This is a map of Mauritius, the only place to have had Dodo Birds.
6. History Studies indicate that the proto-dodo/solitaire and the ancestor of the genus Caloenas, the closest relative of the Dodo, diverged in the mid to late Eocene, around 43 Ma, whereas the dodo and the solitaire separated in the late Oligocene, about 26 Ma. The latter date is biogeographically interesting as it is considerably older than the islands of Mauritius and Rodriguez. Geological evidence suggests that Mauritius emerged in a series of volcanic events, the earliest of which occurred around 7 Ma, whereas Rodriguez did not emerge until 1.5 Ma. Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that the large genetic distance between the dodo and the solitaire resulted from isolation on the two islands. (Roberts & Solow, 2003) Drilling projects have established that ridges surrounding the Mascarene Plateau were above sea level in the late Oligocene and have subsided slowly thereafter. The similarity between the timing of the dodo/solitaire divergence and the first geological evidence of land in the Mascarene island chain is striking and suggests that island steppingstones may have been used before the two species eventually found their way to Mauritius and Rodriguez. The solitaire and dodo reached their new homes by air, later evolving flightlessness independently. (Roberts & Solow, 2003)
7. Ancestral Connections The nearest relative of the dodo, which lived also on the Mascarenes, is the Rodrigues Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) which lived on the island Rodriguez. Researchers at the University of Oxford, UK, have taken samples from a preserved specimen in an attempt to uncover the extinct bird's family tree in 2002. The Oxford team worked with the Natural History Museum to collect and analize genetic material from a preserved dodo, from the similarly extinct Rodriguez solitaire, and from another 35 kinds of living pigeon and dove. Their analysis confirmed that the Dodo and the Rodrigues Solitaire were, as expected, each others closest relative. (Shapiro et al., 2002) Among living pigeons, the dodos are most close to the Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica), a beautiful pigeon from South East Asia. Almost as closely related are the crowned pigeons (Goura sp.) of New Guinea. The unusual Samoan tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris), originally named for its dodo-like beak, is the basal member of this strongly supported group of large, generally ground-dwelling, island endemics. Furthermore, the phylogeographic distribution of this morphologically diverse group suggests that the dodo and the Rodriguez solitaire dispersed from Southeast Asia to the Mascarenes at some point in the past. (Shapiro et al., 2002)
8. Extinction The dodo was easy prey due to the fact that they had no natural enemies until humans arrived on Mauritius. The main purpose of the dodos, during their brief yet devastating interactions with humans, was food. Although the sailors felt that dodo meat wasn’t very tasty, they still ate them and killed them by the thousands. Also, the sailors brought other animals with them such as pigs, dogs, cats, and rats that killed the birds, their young, and trampled their nests. The extinction of the dodo bird is one of the most infamous extinctions in history. It was a lesson in human history and the cause and effects that we have on our environment. Unfortunately, the extinction of the dodo did not spark conservation efforts to protect other animals from over-hunting or ecological effects caused by humans, until hundreds of years later. However, even to this day, the dodo is still the ambassador of extinction.
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11. Resources Fuller, E. (2000). Extinct birds. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Roberts, D.L., Solow, A.R. 2003. Flightless birds: When did the dodo become extinct? Nature 426, 245-245. Brief Communications. Shapiro, B., Sibthorpe, D., Rambaut, A., Austin, J., Wragg, GM., Bininda-Emonds, O.R.P., Lee, P.L.M., Cooper, A. (2002). Flight of the Dodo. Science 295, 1683. (S.L. Pimm, G.J. Russell, J.L. Gittleman and T.M. Brooks, The Future of Biodiversity, Science 269: 347-350 (1995) Farrar, F. (1999). DNA Science could rebuild dead dodo. The Sunday Times (21 March 1999).
