#点亮好奇心 #
There is such a bird in the world, it stands up to about 1 meter, weighs about 50 pounds, strangely it can not fly, known as one of the dumbest birds in the world, but it is such a bird, sold up to 500,000 pounds (more than 4 million yuan) in the auction house in 2016, unfortunately the bird has been extinct for more than 300 years, its demise and human beings can not be separated, until after the extinction of human beings began to cherish, the bird is a dodo bird.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >What is a dodo? </h1>
The dodo bird lives in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, and is known locally as the Fool's Dove, because it is very stupid, even if someone approaches it to catch it, it does not know that danger is coming, but it is curious to approach, so it is easy to become a meal on the plate of other predators, so it is called the Fool's Dove.
1500 years ago, Mauritius had little sense of existence in the whole world, and the existence of the country was not known in the West, because it stood alone in the Indian Ocean, with almost no contact with the outside world, living a peach orchard life. Although Zheng He once passed through here when he went to the West, it was only used as a stop port until the later Portuguese discovered it when the Dutch sailed to the sea and established a sea trade route, and the reputation of the dodo bird spread throughout the West.
Mauritius
Because the dodo is mild and stupid, the body is bloated, the body meat content is relatively high, and its wings are degenerate, it can only run, can not fly, and the sound is like "dodo", like to feed on fruits, laying an egg at a time, so it is loved by Westerners.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the path of extinction of the dodo</h1>
Before the Discovery of Mauritius by westerners, the number of dodo birds on the island is still very large, they can be seen everywhere on the island, and live in harmony with the local residents, since the colonists came to settle on the island, and brought some other animals, such as pigs, dogs and monkeys, etc., these animals joined forces with the colonists to catch dodos, and opened an economic chain, they caught them and sold them to Westerners at a high price, and Westerners regarded dodos as treasures, so they were often in short supply.
Due to the large number of captures, the dodo bird became extinct around 1690 and disappeared from the world, and not only that, but the other animals on the island were almost exterminated by the colonists, becoming an empty island ever since.
Later, based on the extinction of the dodo, a phrase was derived: "As dead as a dodo", which means to be as dead as the dodo, such as the point where things are irreparable.
The dodo was discovered by Westerners and became extinct in just 70 years, but they believed that the dodo was extinct by their own stupidity. The dodo is easy to hunt, even a child can subdue it, and its meat is not tasty at all, hard and difficult to swallow, but for the European nobility, eating the dodo is a status symbol, and think that its meat is very delicious, probably because of the strange appearance of the dodo, the number of reasons, is so highly sought after.
In addition, after the Europeans landed on the island, because life was too boring, they found some ways to spend time - hunting, coupled with the island's rich animal resources, hunting dodo became their daily pleasure.
Are there other reasons for the extinction of the dodo?
The main factor in the extinction of the dodo was man-made, and was once thought to have been eaten extinct by humans. It is recorded that in 1622 the Dutch ship sank in Mauritius, and the surviving sailors climbed on the island, and because of the extreme hunger, the sailor Volkert Evertsz and his companions were on the island to get food, and coupled with physical exhaustion, they could only catch the dodo for leisurely walking, and finally set up a pot to cook the bird meat.
In the process of waiting, the sailors saw the fat bird meat and thought they could eat it, but just when they picked up the bird meat and ate it, they found that it was difficult to swallow, and they still covered their noses and ate it when they were already hungry.
It is reasonable to say that it is both unpalatable and expensive to sell in Europe, and it should not become extinct so quickly, so what is the reason for this?
In fact, the main reason is that these alien species brought by Europeans have fundamentally cut off the breeding of dodo birds, in fact, the survival rate of dodo birds is higher, and the number is large, even if humans hunt at best only cause a small number, but these alien species, especially pigs, have always threatened their survival.
The dodo is a less fertile animal, laying only one egg at a time, and the cycle is long, strangely, its eggs are delicious, and they are targeted by greedy pigs and dogs, who will eat the dodo's cubs and eggs, and rob them of their food, so that they are eventually exterminated.
In fact, as early as 1662, the dodo on Mauritius has been extinct, but some Europeans have privately brought some dodo back to Europe for breeding, but due to differences in living environment, they did not live to the end, and the records say that the last dodo was bought back by a Japanese collector to raise, in order to save the extinction of the dodo, tried any way, and finally failed.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a close relative of the dodo</h1>
Some people wonder if the dodo will have close relatives? Of course, its name is The Victorian Crowned Dove (scientific name: Goura victoria), and the strange thing is that although they are close relatives, it is difficult to associate them with each other depending on their appearance. The bird is about 70 cm long, weighs 2-3 kg, its appearance is gorgeous, with a beautiful crown, blue-green, looks blue, the best looking is its red eyes, known as one of the most beautiful doves in the world.
Living on the island of New Guinea, the Victorian crested dove, like the dodo, feeds on fruits and has no ability to fly, but its flesh is very delicious, becoming one of the most popular game meats, and now it is endangered because of the large number of humans hunting.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
Back in 2016, a dodo skeleton was auctioned in the UK, and after repeated bidding, it was successfully traded for 500,000 pounds, equivalent to about 4.4 million yuan. The most surprising thing is that the skeleton is not from the same dodo, but from a collector who has collected fragments of various dodos and other creatures over 40 years, with a completeness of 95%.
At this point I just want to say one thing, there was once a flock of cute dodo birds right in front of us, and we didn't cherish it. The cute dodo has survived climate change and disasters, but has not escaped human beings, and finally I hope that everyone loves nature, animals, and life.