The dodo or dronte (scientific name Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird native only to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The dodo was a flightless member of the pigeon family. Fully grown dodos weighted about 23 kg (50 pounds). Around 1505 the Portuguese became the first Europeans to discover the dodo. By 1681 it had been driven to extinction by humans and the feral dogs, pigs, rats, and monkeys introduced by Europeans to Mauritius. The dodo was not the only Mauritian bird driven to extinction in recent centuries. Of the 45 bird species originally found, only 21 still survive. Two bird species closely related to the dodo also became extinct: the Reunion solitaire by 1746, and the Rodrigues solitaire by 1790.
Reports of sightings of living dodos in the 1990s on Mauritius prompted William J. Gibbons to mount expeditions to search for them. None were found.
See the Birds section of my cryptozoology links page for more sites offering information about the Dodo.
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This dodo stamp is part of a five stamp set showing extinct birds. The other birds are the Ara de Cuba (a parrot), the passenger pigeon, the moa, and the Great Auk. |
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This dodo stamp is part of a five stamp set showing extinct birds. The other birds are Hesperornis, Archaeopteryx, Phororhacus, and Dinornis Maximus (the moa). |
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This stamp shows Queen Elizabeth II as well as a dodo overlayed on a map of Mauritius. |
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This stamp is one of a set of fifteen stamps depicting birds of Mauritius. |
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This stamp depicts the Rodrigues Solitaire, a close relative of the dodo. Part of the same set of fifteen stamps as dodo stamp #287 above. |
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First of three stamps showing a dodo emerging from an egg along with the arms of Mauritius. |
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Second of three stamps showing a dodo emerging from an egg along with the arms of Mauritius. |
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Third of three stamps showing a dodo emerging from an egg along with the arms of Mauritius. |
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This stamp is part of a set of six stamps depicting birds of Mauritius. The designs are the same as the 1965 issues (e.g., #287 above), but the colors are different. |
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This stamp is part of a set of three issued to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniverary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The stamp depicts a statue of the Dodo. The other two stamps depict the Antelope of Bohun and Queen Elizabeth herself. All three stamps appear on the first day cover whose cachet also depicts the statue of the Dodo. The first-day cancellations also include an image of the Dodo. |
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This stamp commemorates Sir Rowland Hill (inventor of "penny postage") and reproduces the image of the 1954 Mauritius dodo stamp (#261 above). The first day cover offers a drawing of the Dodo. |
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This stamp depicts a dodo gold bullion coin. Part of a series of stamps honoring the silver jubilee of the Bank of Mauritius. |
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This stamp shows the skeleton of a dodo along with George Clark, a naturalist and schoolteacher on Mauritius. Clark spent many years searching for Dodo bones. In September 1865 he unearthed enough bones at Mare aux Songes to form a complete Dodo skeleton. This stamp depicts Clark digging there. Clark sent the bones to the British museum. Sir Richard Owen assembled them. Presumably that skeleton is the one depicted on this stamp. This stamp is part of a contributed to the political, social, scientific, and economic development of Mauritius. |
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This stamp appears on a miniature sheet of 20 depicting extinct and prehistoric animals commemorating Earth Day 1999. |
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Last modified by pib on July 6, 2003.
