The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire, the two forming the subfamily Raphinae of the family of pigeons and doves, each of them are the only species in their own genus. The closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon.
Dodos weren't always flightless: it is presumed that the dodo became flightless because of the ready availability of abundant food sources and a relative absence of predators on Mauritius. So dodos evolved to be flightless ground birds without much to be afraid of. Dodos liked to eat rocks, but that's just the first course. They really ate fruit, nuts, seeds, bulbs, and roots. It has also been suggested that the dodo might have eaten crabs and shellfish, like their relatives the crowned pigeons. The rocks they ate help them digest. They sit in the dodos stomach and help grind up their food. Its main habitat is believed to have been the woods in the drier coastal areas. One account states its clutch consisted of a single egg.
Subfossil remains show the dodo was about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) tall and may have weighed 10.6–17.5 kg (23–39 lb) in the wild. The dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century. As these vary considerably, and only some of the illustrations are known to have been drawn from live specimens, its exact appearance in life remains unresolved, and little is known about its behaviour. Though the dodo has historically been considered fat and clumsy, it is now thought to have been well-adapted for its ecosystem. It has been depicted with brownish-grey plumage, yellow feet, a tuft of tail feathers, a grey, naked head, and a black, yellow, and green beak.
The first recorded mention of the dodo was by Dutch sailors in 1598. In the following years, the birds along with their eggs and chicks were made an easy meal by sailors and invasive species brought by them, like pigs, dogs, cats, rats, and even crab-eating macaque monkeys, while its habitat was being devastated. The last widely accepted sighting of a dodo was in 1662. Its extinction was not immediately noticed, and some considered it to be a myth. In the 19th century, research was conducted on a small quantity of remains of four specimens that had been brought to Europe in the early 17th century. Among these is a dried head, the only soft tissue of the dodo that remains today. Since then, a large amount of subfossil material has been collected on Mauritius, mostly from the Mare aux Songes swamp. The extinction of the dodo within less than a century of its discovery called attention to the previously unrecognized problem of human involvement in the disappearance of entire species. The dodo has since become a fixture in popular culture, often as a symbol of extinction and obsolescence.