Dodo

Dodo Temporal range: late Holocene
Dodo reconstruction at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Conservation status
Extinct  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Aves
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae
Subfamily:	Raphinae
Genus:	Raphus
Binomial name
Raphus cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Former range (in red)

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct species of flightless bird from Mauritius.

Like many other island birds, they lost the power of flight because it was no advantage where they lived. Dodos were in the same family as the pigeon. They were endemic to (only lived on) the island of Mauritius. They became extinct in the late 17th century.

The Dodo has become a symbol of extinction caused by the arrival of humans in ecosystems where humans had never before lived.