Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rebirth!

Though believed to be extinct, this clumsy/ugly bird has been reborn on the Internet - going by the name of dojo. Now what do we know about dodo/dojo?
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Raphus cucullatus
TAXONOMY
Struthio cucullatus Linne, 1758, Mauritius

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Large turkey-like bird.
DISTRIBUTION
Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean.
HABITAT
Woodlands.
BEHAVIOR
The most extensive record of the dodo comes from Volquard Iversen, who was shipwrecked on Mauritius for five days in 1662 (not in 1669 as indicated in some accounts).
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Dodos reportedly ate fruit. Dodos swallowed stones apparently to aid the breakdown of food in the crop. This species apparently had a seasonal fat cycle. A possible
mutualistic relationship existed between dodos and the tambalacoque tree, with passage of the tree's seed through the dodo's gut promoting the seed's germination.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Dodos nested on the ground and laid a one-egg clutch. The general relationship between egg mass and incubation period suggests that the dodo's incubation period was about 37 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Extinct. The primary cause of extinction of the dodo is likely to have been egg predation by introduced pigs, monkeys, and cats, even though dodos were slaughtered in large numbers by sailors. Dodos were very rare by 1640, although some survived to 1662, at least, on offshore islets. The last sighting of a dodo was recorded somewhere between 1665 and 1670, but it is an unconfirmed report.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Dodos were a source of fresh meat for crews and passengers of ships traveling in the Indian Ocean. It was a stupid bird, and that is what the Portuguese called it when one of their world-ranging expeditions found it on the remote Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. In Portuguese, dodo means stupid or silly. The clumsy,
squat birds were good eating and could not fly....... (Source:http://www.answers.com/topic/dodo)

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:54:00 PM

    "REBIRTH"
    We call the "DODO"bird stupid here in the states also....Unless you just come from the toliet after reading the dodo site...then you call the dodo bird shit-head ..
    (GIGGLES) Girl I like the way you are shooting the shit.

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  2. Shit-head I like that...thanks for the good laugh, Cupcake!

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  3. A very dumb creature,not smart enough to stay in existence.

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  4. LOL. The similarities dodo/dojo are STRIKING.

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  5. I have to admit YOU inspired me Keyser. I might even be guilty of stealing the idea...
    Anyway, a stupid ...bird...

    ReplyDelete

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