The dodo (Raphus cucullatus): Diversity Saturday

More about The dodo (Raphus cucullatus): Diversity Saturday

Cause of extinction: Popular belief says that sailors hunted and ate the dodo to extinction, but it is more likely that the rats (and other animals) that the sailors brought with them caused the dodo's decline. The BBC reports that rats probably ate the dodo's eggs and other animals outcompeted the bird for food sources.

Although the dodo became extinct more than 150 years ago, its history is important. People didn't believe that God took a creature out of existence after going to the trouble of creating it, so no one was really alarmed by its disappearance. This led people to believe that there were more dodos hiding somewhere in the wild and therefore the specimens were not handled with the care they should have been.