The Dodo: Revealing a Past, Inspiring a Future

In biology we often study the living things around us but equally important are those organisms that are extinct and remain as examples that reveal the past and inspire the future. The dodo bird is an example of how fast a species can go extinct due to human activity. According to the American Museum of Natural History website (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Dodo/dodo.html?dinos), the dodo bird serves as an example of both evolution and extinction, two key issues in biology. In evolving the dodo actually lost its ability to fly because it was deemed unnecessary in its new home in Mauritius where there were no predators or competition. Regardless the dodo faced its biggest danger in the form of humans. As humans came in and deforestation occurred the dodos lost their homes and succumbed to extinction within less than a century of their first discovery. At the American Museum of Natural History, the dodo bird is presented in one of its exhibitions "Expedition". I first knew dodo birds as the one I saw in the Warner Bros. cartoons, Gogo Dodo, but actual dodo birds and other extinct species like it are a signifcant part of biologcal history.



Warner Bros. Gogo Dodo



Museum of Natural History