How the dodo died out

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2020

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A flightless bird, the dodo became extinct just decades after being discovered on the uninhabited island of Mauritius by European sailors. Because dodos couldn't fly they, and their eggs, were eaten by explorers and the cats and rats that came with them on board their ships. By the late 1600s there were none left. Simon Watts charts the demise and subsequent popularisation of the dodo.

Image: An engraving of a dodo. Credit: Science Photo Library.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, Cricket, and Conspiracy Theories.
1:04.3	And that's just a few examples.
1:06.2	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected,
1:09.4	find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. Hello and thank you for downloading the podcast of Witness History with me Simon Watts. Today I'm taking you back to the beginning of
1:26.2	the 17th century when European explorers reach the uninhabited island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. On its shores they discovered a remarkable flightless bird. They named it the Dodo, but within a few decades it would be extinct. I've been looking at written records
1:45.4	from the time to chart the Dodo's fate.
1:48.3	Here is Generated the Dodo, which for shape and rareness may antagonize the Phoenix of Arabia.
1:56.0	Her body is round and fat, few weigh less than 50 pounds.
2:01.0	Her eyes are small and liked to diamonds, round and rowling, her train three small plumes,
	...

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