The REAL reason The Dodo Went Extinct

The Dodo disappeared over about 100 years after being discovered by Europeans. The main reason they ended up extinct was because Dodo birds weren't equipped to defend against the animals brought to the island by the Europeans due to a little known trope of evolution!

Big thanks to Bill Wurtz for heavily inspiring my video style.

:)

[theviewerofart]

As a Dutch person I was taught in school that we were the reason the dodo went extinct. I thought they meant "we" in the broader sense of humanity, but no it was literally us, the Dutch, ruining yet another good thing overseas to take valuables back home.

[carocaro]

As a child I had a picture book about Dodos. I was crushed when I was told that extinct meant dead forever and I'd never meet one ... They seem cute and friendly. Imagine having a fat, fearless bird in the garden!

[JackT]

It makes me really happy to think that for thousands of years, these isolated islands existed with pretty much no killing or disease, just a glorious tropical paradise with cute little fluffballs walking around being generally lovely to one another and just having a good old time

[SilencedButNotForgotten]

They also laid just one egg per year because there was no need to lay more... Very bad when some trouble shows up.

[punnup]

I remember actually hearing that another big factor of dodo Extinction was actually the tortoises that also roamed the island
If I remember correctly the tortoises were unbelievably amazing for sailing purposes as they held a large reservoir of clean fresh water as well as not needing that much to survive so they could literally grab some tortoises roll them onto the ship and store them as future food

Where the dodo bird comes in is that the dodo bird did not actually taste that good so sailors did not eat them as much but it turns out you cook it with the fat of the tortoises and you have a very palatable dish and caused sailors to literally stop by the island and pick up a couple dodos and turtles for the long voyage

This also means that if we had ketchup back then every animal would probably be extinct by now

[rhysgadbois]

I don’t know about you guys, but I always thought the Dodo bird went extinct after coming into contact with an odd herd containing a mammoth, saber tooth tiger, small human, and a deformed sloth. If I remember correctly, the unique herd took the Dodo birds’ last melon and the remaining Dodo’s committed suicide out of pure shame. This video changes everything.

[theonlyshinyumbreon]

Sounds pretty similar to pygmy sauropods, which were a result of island dwarfism. Eventually a land bridge connected their island to somewhere else. Being the bite sized version of an animal that relys heavily on size in order to become near untouchable, the limited edition happy meals were sold out very quickly.

[CzechsTeaNine]

I totally blame Diego, Manny, Sid and that Kid for their extinction. They stole their Watermelon

[cynicalfalcon]

I've always thought their lack of fear would have made them great pets

[staywithnoeasylife]

As a Mauritian myself, I confirm everything there is true.
But just 1 more detail you may have forgot
When the dodo was hunted it's "scream" made other dodos come, making the Dutch having a lot of dodos at the same while hunting only 1
I hope I explained it well-

[trollanlord]

im legit so pissed off with how they went extinct. they seemed so friendly

[shashankjaiswal]

Due to lack of fight or flight response, they might also have been the friendliest birds to exist, just like Capybaras are friendliest animal to exist.

[lordprotector]

I have a (disbound) book I bought from a boot sale many years ago for £1, which is the natural history of the world. Under Dodo, it says 'The Dodo is an inhabitant of the Isles of France', meaning that it was probably published around 1720, and the author didn't know that Dodos were likely to have been extinct by then. It also says 'The Kangaru is an inhabitant of New Holland', and he casts doubt on the existence of mermaids, but doesn't rule them out!

[dracoberry]

As a fellow Mauritian student, I learned in Grade 5 to 6 that the Dutch were the reason why this big bird is extinct . It is said that one of the reasons why they left the island was because they overkilled what used to be endemic animals on the island .

Edit : No offense towards the Dutch, that is just what I learned. This was before the 17's anyway, so the past is the past .

[ruairim]

Dodo's also have a low birth rate. They basically only laid one egg per year because there was no need to lay more (no predators were eating them) so when people started killing them, they couldn't replace their population fast enough

[simbat]

2:50 "Steve had the defence stats of a vegetable "😂

[GoatSolos]

It's honestly sad how we'll never get to see what they really looked and sounded like.

[acerniss]

It’s honestly sad how what brought them comfort and safety also led to their inevitable extinction.

[HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

Not only did a lack of all concerns *allow* dodos to grow relaxed, it likely *encouraged* it.

In a place without danger, fleeing because a nearby bush rustled wastes energy. The more relaxed dodos had an inherent advantage (until they didnt).

This is my hypothesis at least.

[sukieys]

2:04 the tortoise's squeak was so cute!