Treasures of the American Museum of Natural History

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Transcription: Treasure 21, Dodo. The odd-looking flightless dodo flourished on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean until it was encountered by Dutch sailors in the 17th century. They named the birds dodoor, meaning sluggard, and killed large numbers of them for food, as did travelers who followed. Animals introduced by humans, notably pigs and rats ate the birds' eggs. Unable to fly and nesting on the ground, the dodo was an easy target and was gone forever by 1681. Since the mid-19th century, several hundred dodo bones have been found. Careful comparison of them with those of other flightless birds ...