How did dodo die?

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Courtesy: Reuters

How did the dodo die out? Scientists in Mauritius have launched a project to discover why the giant bird became extinct.

Most theories blame settlers who found the plump flightless bird on the Indian Ocean island in the 16th century and began to hunt it relentlessly.

In an attempt to provide a scientific answer, the Dodo Research Programme, launched on June 06, 06, at Plaine Magnien, Mauritius plans to study fossils from a mass dodo grave unearthed in southern Mauritius last October and an adjacent site, using carbon dating techniques and DNA analysis.

The aim is to understand the dodo's world in the 10,000 years before humans discovered Mauritius, then to determine the impact human colonisers had when they arrived.

''The research aims to reconstruct the world of the dodo and determine the factors of its demise,'' Kenneth Rijsdijk, one of the project's scientists, told a news conference.

''What did the dodo-ecosystem look like? How did the human colonists live and how did they use the environment? What was the effect on the dodo-ecosystem?'' said Rijsdijk, adding he expected the project to cost at least 2 million euros.

The dodo may have already been in decline long before humans turned up, he said.

Mauritius was first settled by Portugese sailors and colonised by Dutch settlers in the 17th century, which is when it died out.

Unaccustomed to predators, the dodo lacked fear of the human settlers who hunted it and destroyed the forests that provided its habitat. Passing ships also brought rats, which ate the bird eggs located in nests on the ground.