The dodo bird had a secret sensory world scientists are only now discovering
CT scans of the world’s rarest dodo skulls suggest the extinct bird may have had a stronger sense of smell, a highly sensitive beak, and a lifestyle that extended into dawn and dusk. The discoveries are helping overturn centuries-old myths and reveal a far more complex animal than the famously “dumb” dodo of popular imagination.
Two complete dodo skulls are known, one at the Natural History Museum Denmark and the other at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. An international team, led by Canadian researchers, used these skulls to examine the dodo's sensory abilities. Digital reconstructions of the skulls revealed that the dodo's sensory experience differed from modern pigeons and doves in several ways.
The dodo may have had a more flexible daily schedule, being active at dawn and dusk. It likely had a stronger sense of smell and a greater capacity for detecting touch through its large upper beak. These findings offer new insights into how the dodo found food and navigated its environment on Mauritius before extinction in the late 17th century.
Peter Andrew Hosner, an Associate Professor at the Natural History Museum Denmark, states that the dodo's unique skull anatomy has been debated for centuries. The study provides a stronger foundation for understanding the dodo's behavior and ecology.
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