Dodo - Raphus cucullatus

GEL 103 Final Presentation

Professor Mark Lawler
Presentation by Melissa Dyer
 Table of Contents
• Dodo genus
• Characteristics
• Range and Habitat
• History
• Ancestral Connections
• Extinction
• Prehistoric Extinction
• Cloning
• Resources
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)
 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)
 Range and Habitat
• This is a map of Mauritius, the only place to – Dodo birds were once the
have had Dodo Birds.
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.
 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)
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)
 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.
Prehistoric Extinction
• The Holocene extinction event includes
the notable disappearance of
large mammals, known as megafauna,
by the end of the last ice age 9,000 to
13,000 years ago. Such disappearances
have been considered as either a
response to climate change, a result of
the proliferation of modern humans, or
both. These extinctions, occurring near
the Pleistocene / Holocene boundary,
are sometimes referred to as
the Pleistocene extinction event or Ice
Age extinction event. However the
Holocene extinction event continues
through the events of the past several
millennia and includes the present time.
(S.L. Pimm, et al. 1995)
• The observed rate of extinction has
accelerated dramatically in the last 50
years. There is no general agreement on
whether to consider more recent
extinctions as a distinct event or merely
part of a single escalating process. Only
during these most recent parts of the
extinction have plans also suffered large
losses. Overall, the Holocene extinction
event is most significantly characterized
by the presence of man-made driving
factors and its very short geological
timescale (tens to thousands of years)
compared to most other extinction
events. (S.L. Pimm, et al. 1995)
 Cloning
• Scientists have extracted DNA from a dodo, raising the prospect
that the animal whose name is synonymous with extinction could
be resurrected. British experts have recovered fragments of genetic
material from a preserved head and foot kept in Oxford University's
Museum of Natural History. The research has already identified the
closest living relative and may pave the way to the recreation of the
species. However, the genetic material has deteriorated into
millions of fragments. Once scientists have worked out the key
genes that made the dodo unique, they could then create
genetically engineered DNA to put into the nucleus of an egg and
hatch a dodo-like bird using one of the pigeons identified by
Cooper's survey. It would, however, be almost impossible to
recreate a perfect dodo, because its genetic code, which survives
only in tiny fragments, could most likely never be worked out to a
sufficiently high degree of accuracy. (Farrar 1999; Shapiro et al.
2002)
 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).