The meat of the dodo is not delicious, but it was eaten by people until it became completely extinct! Only this cautionary proverb remains: "Gone like the dodo"! It also means disappearing completely and never coming back again!
Millions of years ago, the ancestors of the dodo came to a small island in the Indian Ocean. Due to the suitable climate, abundant food, and lack of natural enemies, this place quickly became a paradise for dodos.
Food will fall from the tree and you can eat it by lowering your head. Without natural enemies to chase it, the dodo slowly evolved and lost its ability to fly, becoming plump and cute, living on the island, free and comfortable.
Until the emergence of humans in 1505, the Portuguese discovered this island and saw such a cute bird for the first time. They called it "Dodo", which means "clumsy bird". In 1598, the Dutch Landing on this island, we named the island Mauritius
Then according to the crew's records, the meat of the dodo is not delicious, it is very hard, only part of the neck is okay, indeed Many sailors ate the meat of dodos, and they may have killed them unscrupulously, and some were brought to Europe for people to watch. This is not the main reason for its extinction.
The real reason is other animals brought ashore by humans. Such as cats, dogs and smuggled rats. Since then, the Dodo's living environment has become harsh. They can no longer lay eggs on the ground leisurely, but move to trees and only lay one egg at a time. , which is very convenient for invasive species to eat
Under the combined influence of the animals brought by humans and humans themselves, the Dodo became completely extinct more than 100 years after it encountered humans in 1662. This is also recorded. First An animal that became extinct because of human behavior.
Perhaps humans at that time did not discover it or make any preparations, so there is not a complete Dodo specimen left in the world. The Oxford University Museum only has a head and foot specimen, which is the only remaining specimen. In 2002, DNA was extracted from the Dodo specimen containing soft tissue to determine the genetic relationship between the Dodo and the pigeon, and to deduce its evolution. This at least proved that the Dodo really existed and was not just a legend.
After the extinction of the dodo, the Kavalia tree, which is unique to Mauritius and can be more than 30 meters tall, almost became extinct because the seed shell of this tree is very hard and difficult to germinate, and the dodo likes to eat it and excretes it through the dodo's digestive system. , so that its outer shell can be broken, and the seeds will germinate more easily.
This tree and the dodo have formed a mutually dependent relationship. Its alias is the dodo tree, but fortunately there are also turtles, parrots, and people bring them. In the past, turkey was able to achieve such an effect, allowing Dudushu to tide over the difficulties.
Human beings also realized that nature is interconnected. One human behavior may cause irreversible damage to the natural ecology. Later, Mauritius was occupied by France and the United Kingdom successively until it became independent in 1968. Now it is also known as the "Switzerland of Africa" and is a well-known holiday destination, but the Dodo bird as the "host" can no longer be seen.
