John Roanes age 12, of Missouri City, Texas

Why is  the dodo bird extinct?

You might say that the dodo bird made himself too comfortable. His ancestors, relatives of the pigeon, enjoyed life on the island of Mauritania  in the Indian Ocean. It is a windy place and flight was full of hazards.  Smallish birds were blown out to sea or dashed into the rocky surf. So the ancestors of the dodos gave up flight altogether.

Not only that, in time they gave up the stiff tail and wing pinions that a bird needs to fly in the air. Through the generations$ the feathers of the dodos became soft and downy. Life on the ground was good. There were few enemies and plenty of food. The dodos grew fat, heavy and lazy.

When the Portuguese found them on their windy little island they called them dodos, which means stupid ones. The big fat fellows were too slow to escape the pigs brought to the island. And they were good to eat. Dozens of them were roasted and eaten by settlers. Still they made no effort to escape or even give their enemies a run for their money. Soon there were no dodos left on the island. They are now extinct and there will never be dodos in the world again.