For possibly the last time in its existence, the dodo, a member of the pigeon family, was lucky. It tasted awful. ‘Even a long boiling would scarcely make them tender,’ reported a 17th- century Dutch ship’s captain. read more
In 2011, the nephiline spider Nephilengys dodo, which inhabits the same woods as the dodo once did, was named after the bird to raise awareness of the urgent need for protection of the Mauritius biota. Two species of ant from Mauritius have been named after the dodo: Pseudolasius dodo in 1946 and Pheidole dodo in 2013. read more
When geophysicist Andrew Jackson was poring over 17th-century observations of Earth's magnetic field, perhaps the last thing he expected to discover was a new potential extinction date for the dodo, the goofy-looking, flightless bird that became a poster child of extinct species. read more