Dodo Bird Extinction

Introduction

The extinction of the dodo, a flightless bird endemic to the isle of Mauritius in the Indian sea, was a foremost decrease to the kingdom Animalia, as it was the first foremost extinction which was directly associated to human activities. In the years to pursue, the register of birds that became extinct just increased, and the dodo became a mascot of these extinct birds. Before we move up on the minutia of dodo bird extinction, let's have a brief gaze at the bird - its look, diet and habitat.

Background

The first noted clues of someone from England having seen a dwelling Dodo in its natural wild habitat was in 1628 when Emanuel Altham detailled his fact in 2 letters which he wrote from mauritius on the dame day to his male sibling in England. These notes were given prominence in the 19th years by medical practitioner J.B. Wilmot. According to 19th years zoologist Alfred Newton, he (Newton) was acquainted that on the death of Dr. Wilmot these intriguing papers (which, had they been Wilmot's own house, Wilmot would have willingly made over to some public library) were burnt. Newton had, although, taken the precaution to have them accurately transcribed while they were entrusted to his keeping. In one of the notes, Altham writes " "You shall receue...a strange fowle: which I had at the Iland Mauritius called by ye portingalls a Do Do: which for the rareness thereof I wish wil be welcome to you." In the other note the judgments in relation to the Dodo are substantialy the same, but the phrases "if it liue" (probably meaning if the Dodo inhabits through the journey) are added. No further details are known of whether the Dodo which Altham sent did indeed survive or what happened to it (Shapiro, 56).

Anatomy of the bird

Dodo was a plump flightless bird weighing approximately 20 to 30 kg. It was grey in hue with a large hooked beak and a plume of white plumage adorning the back of the body of the bird. It had small decreased feeble wings that were inefficient to lift up the heavy body of the bird into the air. This morphological weakness of the bird made it prone to the danger from the Portuguise invaders who clubbed it to death when it approached them in search of friendship (Gosse, 67).

Today, the skeleton of dodo is not accessible except some skeletal parts and the entire article about dodo's morphology and anatomy and its demeanour can not be formulated even after great trys. The work of the Museum Curator Andrew Kitchener proposes that the bird could have a heaviness ranging from 13 to 17 kg. After the analysis of the available bones of the bird the curator predicted that the bird was not as fat as reported and shown through the European portrait of the bird (Day, 67).

Discussion

Sir Thomas Herbert, whose writings of his Travels spanned numerous editions, cruised in the identical fleet as Altham. whereas the year of Altham's ...