Alice shakes hands with a dodo bird, surrounded by various birds in an illustrated scene.

The Story Behind “Dodo Destiny” by Tom Parker

The dodo was a large, flightless bird that lived only on the tropical Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, which was uninhabited by humans until the arrival of Dutch explorers in 1598. Before the arrival of humans, the dodo had no natural enemies and was therefore defenseless against both humans and introduced animal predators, including rats that ate the dodos' unprotected eggs. The population of dodos began to decline rapidly after the arrival of man due to overhunting, destruction of its natural habitat, and animal predators. By the late 1600s, no dodos were ever seen again and were presumed to be extinct.

The loss of dodos marked the first time in history that the disappearance of a species was linked to human activities and introduced the concept of extinction into mainstream awareness. Today, the dodo has become a universal symbol of extinction. “Dead as a Dodo” is an expression used to describe something that is truly and forever gone.

Antique map of southern Africa and Madagascar, labeled in French, featuring detailed geographic and place names, with a decorative ship illustration in the bottom right corner.
Antique map of the Indian Ocean featuring the islands of Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and others, with detailed insets and illustrations of ports, landscapes, and sailing ships.