Skeleton of Dodo unearthed

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Scientists said they likely have found a complete skeleton of the long-extinct Dodo bird.

The Dodo was native to Mauritius when no humans lived there, but its numbers rapidly dwindled after the arrival of Portuguese and Dutch sailors in the 1500s. The last recorded sighting of a live bird was in 1663.

An international team of researchers reportedly found the bones of the bird on a sugar cane plantation on Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar.

No complete skeleton of a single Dodo bird had ever been retrieved from an archaeological site in Mauritius. The last known stuffed bird was destroyed in a 1755 fire at a museum in Oxford, England, leaving only partial skeletons and drawings of the bird.

“We have found 700 bones, including bones from 20 Dodo birds and chicks, but we believe there are many more at the site,” said Kenneth Rijsdijk, a Dutch geologist from the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, who led the dig.

DNA material from other Dodos exists, but Rijsdijk said better samples could be retrieved from the latest find, estimated to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old.

Retrieving DNA means the Dodo can be better placed in relation to other species. But re-creating a live bird from its DNA remains in the realm of science fiction, Rijsdijk said.

The Dodo’s name comes from a Portuguese word for “fool.” The bird was so named because it showed no fear of humans and couldn’t fly, making it easy prey for the colonists.

Modern scientists understand the Dodo more favorably. They believe the bird did not fear humans because it had no natural predators on Mauritius and had lost the ability to fly because it was so large: Adults grew to about 3 feet and weighed about 50 pounds – far bigger than a pelican.