One of the best known extinct species, the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), a flightless bird native to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, disappeared around 1680. A member of the dove or pigeon family, and about the size of a large turkey, the dodo was a grayish white bird with a huge black-andred beak, short legs, and small wings. The dodo did not have natural enemies until humans discovered the island in the early sixteenth century.

The dodo became extinct due to hunting by European sailors who collected the birds for food and to predation of eggs and chicks by introduced dogs, cats, pigs, monkeys, and rats. The Portuguese are credited with discovering Mauritius, where they found a tropical paradise with a unique collection of strange and colorful birds unafraid of humans: parrots and parakeets, pink and blue pigeons, owls, swallows, thrushes, hawks, sparrows, crows, and dodos. Unwary of predators...