Flightless birds: when did the dodo become extinct?
The extinction of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus L.; Fig. 1) is commonly dated to the last confirmed sighting in 1662, reported by Volkert Evertsz on an islet off Mauritius. By this time, the dodo had become extremely rare - the previous sighting having been 24 years earlier - but the species probably persisted unseen beyond this date. Here we use a statistical method to establish the actual extinction time of the dodo as 1690, almost 30 years after its most recent sighting.
Roberts
David L
DL
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, UK.
Solow
Andrew R
AR
D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D011156:Population Density; D016008:Statistical Distributions; D013997:Time Factors