dodo

Definition

A large, flightless bird, †Raphus cucullatus, related to the pigeon, that is now extinct (since the 1600s) and was native to Mauritius.

Etymology

Uncertain. Perhaps from obsolete Portuguese doudo (“fool, simpleton, silly, stupid”) or Dutch dodaars. First attested in the 17th century.

Example Sentences

• "In spite of the most active search, during the last century, no information respecting the dodo was obtained, and some authors have gone so far as to pretend that it never existed; […]"
• "Within a very few years after these islands shall have become regularly settled, in all probability this fox will be classed with the dodo, as an animal which has perished from the face of the earth."
• "Wildlife biologist Stanley Temple hypothesised that perhaps the dodo tree was dependent on its seeds passing through the digestive system of dodos in order to properly germinate and that the handful of individuals in the 1970s were the last remaining trees from seeds that passed through a dodo in the 1690s-1700s when they went extinct."