Dodo – a bird slaughtered to the point of extinction by humans – is always nicknamed “stupid, foolish”. However, a recent study has discovered that this species is quite intelligent with special abilities.

Why did the dodo bird become extinct?

The dodo bird – also known as the dodo bird, the lazy cuckoo , scientific name Raphus cucullatus, a relative of today’s pigeons – mainly lives on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. They are descendants of ancient winged and flying creatures that once dominated the islands of Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodriguez in the Indian Ocean.

Image of dodo bird at Oxford University Museum of Natural History (UK). (Photo: Wikimedia).

This is a large bird that has received special attention from scientists due to the difference in body structure compared to modern birds. They cannot fly and move slowly due to their very fat bodies (weighing 18-25kg). This species nests and lays eggs always on the ground, because the island of Mauritius does not have any predators or animals that can endanger dodo birds, their eggs and young.

But everything changed in 1507 when Portuguese explorers visited the island of Mauritius. They were very surprised to see that the dodo birds were not afraid of people and were easy for them to catch and eat. Since then, ships often stop at Mauritius island and catch dodo birds as food reserves for long trips. It is unknown how many dodo birds were captured and slaughtered.

During this period, expedition ships also brought some dodo birds back to Europe. Lewis Carroll – author of “Alice in Wonderland” – was probably one of the people who was impressed with this bird when he built it into a character in his famous book. However, the sad thing is that being brought to Europe did not help this special bird escape the disaster of extinction. Although there is no exact evidence, scientists believe that the last dodo bird was killed in 1690.

This large bird species became extinct not only because it was captured and killed en masse. The fact that humans brought to the island of Mauritius a series of alien creatures such as rats, monkeys, pigs… was also an important factor that caused the dodo bird to completely disappear on Earth, because their eggs and young (located in nests built on the ground) are damaged by alien species.

The dodo bird is not stupid

Humans are not only the main culprit causing the extinction of the dodo bird, but also giving this species a bad reputation. Dodo in Portuguese means stupid. In some Western countries, the dodo bird is a symbol of stupidity in popular culture. However, the National Museum of Scotland and the Danish Natural History Museum have just published a new study showing that this animal is quite intelligent and has special abilities.

In fact, the Dodo bird is quite intelligent.

The team analyzed the well-preserved skull of the dodo at the UK National Museum of History in London, comparing it with seven modern dodo species. Eugenia Gold – head of the research team – said that the dodo bird’s skull is quite large compared to its body size. This rate is equivalent to that of pigeons. This proves that the dodo bird is quite intelligent, because many studies have proven that pigeons have very good intellectual abilities compared to many other animals. This bird symbolizing peace can be trained to do some special jobs such as delivering mail, guiding…

“Our research shows that dodo birds are quite intelligent. They are considered stupid when they let humans catch them and kill them easily, because on the island of Mauritius, they do not face any threats so they do not pay attention. Be aware of the dangers when meeting people” – Ms. Eugenia Gold said.

Analyzing this bird further, scientists also discovered that the dodo brain has a very developed part: The sense of smell is superiorly developed compared to other animals. Because the dodo lives underground, they have developed a sense of smell to hunt for food including fruits and sea animals such as clams…

In addition, the research team also discovered a special ear structure with an unusual curvature of the dodo bird. However, they have not yet found an explanation for this phenomenon.