Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Saving Snags for Red-headed Woodpeckers
Red-headed Woodpecker
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • BirdNote Daily
    • Bring Birds Back
    • Threatened
    • BirdNote Presents
    • Sound Escapes
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • The Team
    • Board Members
    • DEI/IDEA Commitment
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

The Dodo

December 21, 2020
A flightless, luckless bird...
Listen Now
Subscribe
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Illustration of a Dodo bird Expand Image
© Edouard Poppig

Nearly 400 years ago, Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to lay eyes on the Dodo, on the island of Mauritius. By the early 1600s, Dutch sailors were provisioning their ships there, slaughtering Dodos as fast as they could find them. Hunting, along with the introduction of pigs and monkeys to the island, meant the Dodo's days were numbered. By 1690, the Dodo was extinct.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Remembering the Dodo

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote. 

Of all the bird species driven to extinction in recorded history, 90% have been island-dwellers. And amongst them, possibly the most famous is the Dodo.

[Sound of ocean waves]

Nearly 400 years ago, on the island of Mauritius, Portugese sailors were the first Europeans to lay eyes on this odd, flightless bird.

The stocky, gray-blue Dodo weighed up to forty-five pounds, walked on short, thick legs, and sliced open tough-skinned fallen fruit with an enormous, hooked bill. Ornithologists have since learned that the Dodo was descended from pigeons similar to the ground-dwelling Tooth-billed Pigeons of present-day Samoa in the South Pacific. Its song is unknown.

By the early 1600s, Dutch sailors were provisioning their ships on Mauritius, slaughtering Dodos as fast as they could find them. Hunting, together with the introduction of pigs and monkeys to the island, meant the flightless, ground-nesting Dodo’s days were numbered. By 1690, the Dodo was extinct.

[Sound of ocean waves]

For  BirdNote, I'm Michael Stein.

###

Ambient water sounds provided by Kessler Productions.

Wave crash 'Surf Brilliant' recorded by Gordon Hempton of QuietPlanet.org

BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Dominic Black

© 2014 Tune In to Nature.org     December 2016/2020     Narrator:  Michael Stein

ID #: 121305dodo   dodo-01b

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Michael Stein
Narrator
Tags: extinction, Indian Ocean, Mauritius, Asia, island

Related Resources

More about the Dodo at the American Museum of Natural HistoryMore about endangered birds at U.S North American Bird Conservation InitiativeDavid Quammen discusses "island biogeography"- An interview at Terrain.orgBird species are facing extinction hundreds of times faster than previously tho…10 birds that were saved from extinction10 amazing birds that have gone extinct

More About These Birds

Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)

Raphus cucullatus

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • About
  • Annual Report
  • Contact
  • Science Advisory Council
  • Pitch Page
  • Sights & Sounds
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy