The Dodo, Raphus cucullatus, is an enigmatic bird endemic to Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. This bird was discovered in 1598 by Dutch sailors. Less than one hundred years later, at the end of the 17th century, the Dodo became extinct. Being thought of as fat and stupid-looking bird, the Dodo is famous in popular culture, appearing in paintings, books, and movies from its discovery until today. More importantly, the Dodo is one of the first species known to have been driven to extinction because of human activity. Although it was contemporaneous with humans for decades, and extinct for only three hundred years, we know very little about its ecology. Understanding the biology of the Dodo is important because it is such an iconic example of human-induced extinction. Therefore, new information about these birds is crucial. With current concerns about biodiversity and conservation effort, it is essential to understand why some species are more prone to extinction than others – and that requires an understanding of all aspects of their biology, including diet, reproduction, population structure, locomotion, habitat preference, and geographic distribution of key species driven to extinction already by human activity. The Dodo was the largest terrestrial animal in its ecosystem. Understanding of its ecology is, therefore, crucial to understand the Mauritius ecosystem before the arrival of humans and to estimate the real impact of human activity on this island. Furthermore, because the Dodo is an icon of extinction, determining aspects of its (palaeo)biology on the basis of objective evidence and quantitative methods will be a test case of methods of inference and also should attract wide public interest.
I hereby propose to study the ecology of the Dodo, including diet, locomotion, and population structure. To these ends, I propose to apply a novel multi-angle combination of scientific methods. This will bring us new insights into the ecosystem of Mauritius before the arrival of humans and a better understanding of the role played by humans in the extinction of the Dodo. The study will be extended to the Columbiformes in general to gain a better understanding of the evolution of this group. Finally, a comparison with the Solitaire will be conducted to test if these two birds - which were contemporaneous in two close islands in the Mascarenes and which became extinct at the same time - had the same ecological adaptations.
