Demise of the dodo: why fearlessness wasn't this flightless bird's friend.

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This skeleton is of an extinct bird known as the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), a species unique to the island of Mauritius. The loss of the dodo in the mid-17th century is one of the first recorded examples of an extinction caused directly by human activity. Because this bird evolved for millions of years on an island with no mammalian predators, it grew large and flightless, and lost its defensive traits. The bird's lack of fear toward humans would spell its doom--and lead to its undeserved reputation for being dimwitted. Only 70 years elapsed between the dodo's discovery and its extinction. It was hunted intensively for food by sailors, but its ultimate demise came from introduced dogs, rats, pigs, and monkeys that preyed on both adult birds and eggs.

The dodo stood about a metre tall, likely weighed about 20 kilograms, and was so different in appearance that early explorers debated which group of birds it was related to. Research done in part at the ROM using ancient DNA sequences revealed that the dodo was part of an ancient radiation of doves that spread across the Indian Ocean. It diverged from its closest living relative, the Nicobar pigeon, more than 33 million years ago.

This rare skeleton was acquired by the ROM in 1938, one of only a handful known at the time. It is on display in the newly opened Schad Gallery of Biodiversity.

OLIVER HADDRATH is a technician in the Ornithology section of the ROM's Department of Natural History.