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New research study led by University of Lethbridge researchers uses the most in-depth appearance yet at how the dodo (Raphus cucullatus— the flightless bird driven to termination by the 1600s– in fact viewed its world, recommending the ‘foolish bird’ had an even more intricate sensory life than its credibility suggests.
The dodo (Raphus cucullatusby Frederick William Frohawk, 1905.
The dodo and its close relative, the Rodrigues Solitaire(Pezophaps solitariaare 2 of the most acknowledged signs of human-caused termination.
In spite of their prominence in the clinical and popular literature, little is understood about their habits.
“Few animals represent human effect on nature as extremely as the dodo,”stated University of Lethbridge Ph.D. trainee Sara Citron and her associates.
“Endemic to Mauritius, the flightless dodo produced interest and awareness of mankind’s function in terminations, leading the way for the development of preservation biology.”
“Extensive research study on the dodo has actually yielded insights and continuous dispute over different elements of its biology.”
“The bulk of this understanding was developed after its disappearance in the late-17th century because, regardless of making it through the arrival of human beings on Mauritius for a number of years, just restricted and typically unreliable info on its habits and ecology were taped when the types was still alive, and no skins were maintained.”
“With regard to its habits, it is presumed that it embedded on the ground and revealed little worry of people. The latter is a typical characteristic in island-dwelling types without any mammalian predators, and added to the unjust representation of the dodo as ‘dumb’.”
“Notably, this representation was never ever used to the dodo’s closest relative, the Rodrigues Solitaire, which ended up being extinct around c. 1761,” they included.
“Due to the accounts of François Leguat in 1691-93 and Julien Tafforet in 1725-26, who were both marooned on the island, the habits of the Solitaire is considerably much better confirmed than the dodo.”
“Their description of the Solitaire’s extreme intraspecific (and possibly interspecific) aggressiveness, might, unlike the regrettable dodo, have actually spared the bird from a likewise silly attribution.”
In the existing research study, the authors compared CT scans of dodo and Rodrigues Solitaire skulls with those of 36 living pigeon and dove types, taking a look at eye sockets, nerve openings, and 3D brain restorations called endocasts.
The findings paint 2 really various images of these carefully associated, extinct island birds.
The Rodrigues Solitaire, when believed to be a scaled-up pigeon, ends up to basically be simply that– its sensory systems carefully look like those of its living loved ones, aside from an unusually shaped skull.
The dodo, nevertheless, differs. The scientists discovered its optic lobes– the brain area that processes visual info– were more than 3 times smaller sized relative to brain size than in the Nicobar pigeon, its closest living relative.”
This decrease puts the dodo’s visual processing capability in area more common of owls than of daytime-active pigeons, hinting the bird might have been active at dawn and sunset instead of specifically throughout the day.
“We thought that dodos were much better adjusted to seeing in darker conditions,” stated Flinders University’s Professor Vera Weisbecker.
“They had a little bigger eyes, however abnormally little optic lobes, a location of the brain that processes light.”
“This might suggest that its visual capabilities are poorer, due to the fact that little optic lobes typically suggest that the light reaches the brain through less nerves.”
“We see likewise little optic lobes in numerous nighttime birds, like the evasive Australian night parrot or the New Zealand kakapo, suggesting they relied little on sight and were active primarily during the night.”
Remediation of the Rodrigues Solitaire, a flightless member of the pigeon order endemic to Rodrigues, Mauritius (Frederick William Frohawk, 1907 )
At the exact same time, the dodo’s olfactory bulbs appeared bigger compared to other pigeons, recommending an abnormally sharp sense of odor.
Its trigeminal nerve, which brings touch experience from the face, likewise revealed indications of augmentation near the beak, perhaps connected to its extra-large upper costs.
Significantly, the researchers discovered no proof that the dodo had a smaller sized brain area connected with cognition, damaging the concept that the bird’s docility around human beings showed low intelligence.
Both birds appear to have actually interacted utilizing uncommonly low-frequency noises based upon measurements of their inner-ear structures.
“There is no proof that the dodo was any less smart than its loved ones– and we understand that pigeons are quite wise,” stated University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Andrew Iwaniuk.
“The dodo has the most uncommon skull with an oddly domed head, however the part of its brain that figures out cognition was precisely as huge as what one would anticipate for a bird of its size.”
“These mild animals were perhaps rather social. Like lots of island types, they were likewise utilized to a life without predators. They might just have actually had no factor to discover afraid habits,” Citron included.
“Calling them ‘foolish’ for being ignorant makes it seem like they was worthy of to go extinct, which is so unreasonable.”
“We are rather positive that dodos were active at dawn, sunset or night-time, which would make it the only nighttime pigeon on the planet.”
“Perhaps this provided it a benefit over the lots of strictly day-active turtles that resided on Mauritius.”
“At night-time, it might have had the ability to get away competitors for food sources with other types, such as the island’s numerous turtles.”
“The dodo’s skull differs from that of any living bird, that makes it both remarkable and hard to analyze,”
“By comparing digital restorations of the world’s just 2 total dodo skulls, we now have a much more powerful structure for determining which functions are really particular of the types and what they can inform us about how the dodo lived,” stated Dr. Christy Anna Hipsley, a scientist at the Natural History Museum Denmark.
“The research study supplies a crucial brand-new structure for comprehending its habits and ecology,” stated Dr. Peter Andrew Hosner, likewise from the Natural History Museum Denmark.
“The dodo has actually ended up being a sign of termination, however in lots of methods it stays remarkably strange.”
“Every brand-new piece of proof assists us move beyond misconceptions and develop a more precise image of how this amazing bird lived before it vanished.”
The group’s outcomes were released August 5, 2026 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
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Sara Citron et al2026. The sensory world of the Dodo and Solitaire exposed by endocast and skull anatomy. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 207 (4 ): zlag123; doi: 10.1093/ zoolinnean/zlag123
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