Although the tale of the dodo bird’s demise is well documented, no complete specimens of the bird were preserved; there are only fragments and sketches. The dodo bird is just one of the bird species driven to extinction on Mauritius. Many others were lost in the 19th century when the dense Mauritian forests were converted into tea and sugar plantations.
Of the 45 bird species originally found on Mauritius, only 21 have managed to survive.
Although the dodo bird became extinct in 1681, its story is not over. We are just beginning to understand the effects of its extinction on the ecosystem.
Recently a scientist noticed that a certain species of tree was becoming quite rare on Mauritius. In fact, he noticed that all 13 of the remaining trees of this species were about 300 years old. No new trees had germinated since the late 1600s