Earlier this year, scientists discovered that the nearest living relative to the extinct dodo is infact a common pigeon from the Nicobar Islands and nearby south-east Asia.

The dodo was a flightless bird, bigger than a turkey, living on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Dutch sailors began using Mauritius as a stopover in 1598; Within 80 years, the dodo was gone. Before the Dutch sailors arrived, the dodo had no natural predators, while having plenty to eat. It is believed that as it was no longer necessary to migrate or protect themselves from predators, they lost the ability to fly and would nest on the ground, laying maybe one large egg every few years.

The Dutch used the island as a penal colony. They brought pigs, dogs, cats, monkeys and uninvited rats to the island with their convicts. These predators raided the dodo bird’s ground nests while the dodo was hunted for its meat. These are thought to be the main causes for the dodos extinction.

The dodo bird is not the only bird species which was driven to extinction on Mauritius. Many other species were lost in the 19th century when the dense Mauritian forests were converted to tea and sugar plantations. Out of the 45 original bird species found there, only 21 have survived.