Meet The American Version Of The Dodo Bird — A Flightless Bird That Sadly Went Extinct In 1844

The dodo is often viewed as the classic example of extinction and obsolescence. However, the truth ... More is that countless species have met similar fates. Here’s one bird whose epoch ended much in the same way as the dodo bird, but on the opposite side of the planet.
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The dodo probably receives more attention than it deserves. Sure, the flightless bird — native to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean — was a beautiful species whose lineage ended far too soon (likely sometime in the late 1600s). And, sure, its unique story serves as a cautionary tale about the risks posed by overhunting and invasive species on range-restricted animals (like those inhabiting a small-ish island).
But the glaring, and unfortunate, issue with the story of the dodo is that there’s nothing that uncommon about it — countless animals have met similar fates. In fact, according to scientific estimates, approximately 12% of all avian species have gone extinct since the Late Pleistocene Era, approximately 10,000 to 100,000 years ago.
Here’s the story of the great auk, another flightless bird, found in the North Atlantic, that went extinct in much the same way as the Dodo.
The Great Auk Went From Thriving To Extinct In 200 Years
Built for life at sea, the great auk was a powerful swimmer and diver, using its short wings to ... More navigate underwater. Its upright stance, dense black-and-white plumage and large, hooked beak made it a striking figure on rocky coastal islands.
The great auk was a seabird that lived on rocky islands from New England and Canada to Europe. For centuries, its population was healthy. They were robust creatures, capable swimmers and divers, well adapted to life at sea, but their inability to fly made them vulnerable. Much like the dodo, the great auk’s inability to escape threats from predators or humans meant its decline came swiftly once those threats emerged.
The dodo’s extinction in the late 1600s, shortly after the arrival of European colonists on Mauritius, was driven by a combination of habitat destruction, hunting and the introduction of non-native animals. Similarly, the great auk’s population began to decrease in the 16th century with the arrival of European explorers and settlers in the North Atlantic. The primary threat came from overhunting; the great auk’s eggs, feathers and meat were highly valued. Like the dodo, which suffered from the introduction of rats, pigs and monkeys, the great auk also faced competition from invasive species, including dogs and foxes, which preyed on its eggs and young.