How the dodo died out
A flightless bird, the dodo was extinct just decades after being discovered by Europeans
Witness History · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
A flightless bird, the dodo became extinct just decades after being discovered on the uninhabited island of Mauritius by European sailors. Because dodos couldn't fly they, and their eggs, were eaten by explorers and the cats and rats that came with them on board their ships. By the late 1600s there were none left. Simon Watts charts the demise and subsequent popularisation of the dodo.
Image: An engraving of a dodo. Credit: Science Photo Library.