Abstract
The dodo, Raphus cucullatus, a flightless pigeon endemic to Mauritius, became extinct during the 17th century due to anthropogenic activities. Although it was contemporaneous with humans for almost a century, little was recorded about its ecology. Here we present new aspects of the life history of the dodo based on our analysis of its bone histology. We propose that the dodo bred around August and that the rapid growth of the chicks enabled them to reach a robust size before the austral summer or cyclone season. Histological evidence of molting suggests that after summer had passed, molt began in the adults that had just bred; the timing of molt derived from bone histology is also corroborated by historical descriptions of the dodo by mariners. This research represents the only bone histology analysis of the dodo and provides an unprecedented insight into the life history of this iconic bird.
Highlights
The dodo (Raphus cucullatus), a giant flightless pigeon, was endemic to Mauritius[1], one of the Mascarene Islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean
The histological structure of the bones from the Mare aux Songes (MAS) locality is generally much better preserved than subfossils recovered from the cave environments (Supplementary Table S1)
Cyclones can occur, during which heavy rain and strong winds can strip trees of leaves, flowers and fruit, causing severe food shortages and starvation for the island fauna, and it can take a few months for normal environmental conditions to return[3, 33, 34]. These events may explain the variations in body mass, as reported by mariners for the dodo[8]. As these seasonal events and consequent long food shortages could result in nutritional stress, we suggest that the line of arrested of growth (LAG) observed in the outer circumferential layer (OCL) in the dodo bones were produced in the summer months, between November and March
Summary
The dodo (Raphus cucullatus), a giant flightless pigeon, was endemic to Mauritius[1], one of the Mascarene Islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean. It was first described in 1598 by Dutch mariners[2], and became extinct less than a hundred years later (between 1662 and 1693)[3, 4]. Taxonomic studies have identified the dodo as a member of Columbiformes, and as the sister taxon to the Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria)[1, 7], but the ecology of the dodo has remained difficult to determine The latter is perhaps explained by the fact that living Columbiformes differ considerably from the dodo making ecological comparisons difficult, and perhaps more significantly, the dodo became extinct long before any detailed ecological studies were carried out on Mauritius. Our research is highly significant in that using bone microstructure we provide novel insight into the reproductive behavior, growth strategy, and molting habits of this recently extinct enigmatic bird[13]
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