The island of Mauritius was once home to the dodo, an extinct flightless bird scientifically known as Raphus cucullatus. The dodo evolved in isolation on Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island east of Madagascar, where it faced few natural predators and therefore lost the ability to fly.
Dutch sailors recorded the bird after arriving in Mauritius in 1598. Dodos were reportedly fearless of people, but their decline was driven by several pressures: hunting, forest destruction, and introduced animals such as pigs, rats, dogs, cats, and macaques that disturbed nests and competed for food.
The last widely accepted sighting is dated to 1662, although later reports are disputed and may have referred to the island’s red rail. Dodo bones were rediscovered in quantity in the nineteenth century at the Mare aux Songes swamp. The bird’s name has become shorthand for extinction, but its story is also an early warning about how quickly introduced species can damage an island ecosystem.