The Dodo
The dodo vanished so fast that by the 1800s some naturalists doubted it had ever existed.
What was reported
The dodo was a large, flightless bird, about a metre tall, that lived only on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Dutch sailors began visiting in 1598, and in less than a century the bird was gone, wiped out by hunting and by the rats, pigs and other animals people brought.
Only a few drawings and scraps of specimens survived, and by the early 1800s some naturalists suspected it was a myth.
Explanations offered
In 1865 a schoolteacher, George Clark, found a large collection of dodo bones in the Mare aux Songes marsh, proving it was real. DNA studies show it was a giant relative of pigeons. It became the best-known symbol of extinction caused by people.
- When
- Extinct by the 1680s
- Where
- Mauritius
- Witnesses
- Dutch sailors, and later scientists
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.