Mary Tranter, age 12, of Schenectady, New York, for her question:

When did the dodo become extinct?

The dodo bird himself became extinct in 1681, one of his close cousins survived until 1746 and another managed to hang on until 1791. Their tragic story is but the first chapter of mankind's destruction of bird species. It is tragic because extinction is the final end of a species that had survived on earth through millions of years. There are no living dodos in the world today    and never, never can there be dodo birds again.

For untold ages, the dodos enjoyed a rather lazy life on the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. Exploring Portuguese sailors found them there in 1507    and the last of the big birds was seen alive in 1681, merely 174 years later. It seems a crying shame that in this short time that careless human cruelty could wipe out one of the earth's most remarkable birds. But it happened, sad to say.

The appearance of the remarkable dodo was almost unbelievable. Scientists classify him as relative of the pigeons and doves, but these dainty birds would never have recognized him. For one thing, he was a flightless bird with little wings that were too weak to lift his bulky body off the ground.

And bulky is the word for him. The dodo was bigger than a big turkey and fatter than a fat goose. He stood two and a half feet tall on short stubby legs. He had a huge head with a thick, over sized beak. He had a dog sized mouth and a rather doggy facial expression. His body was covered with smooth pigeon type feathers    set off by a poodle type tail like a curly, feathery pom pom. Two closely related dodo cousins, called solitaires, lived on the neighboring islands of La Reunion and Rodrigues.

Tragedy began soon after these islands were discovered by European sailors. The news got around and other ships sailing the Indian Ocean stopped by to visit. The main attraction was the big fat dodos, so peaceable and easy to catch. During this period large  numbers of dodos were taken aboard as food for the sailors.

Later the islands were colonized by settlers from Holland, France and Britain. The settlers no doubt roasted many a dodo    but they also brought with them pigs, dogs and possibly monkeys. And it was these tame and half tame animals that brought final doom to the dodos. The big birds were clumsy and trusting. Pigs, dogs and monkeys plundered the chicks and eggs and made life miserable for the adult birds.

Nobody cared and perhaps nobody even noticed what was happening until too late. Even though the last dodo perished in 1681, no effort was made to save his relatives on neighboring islands from extinction.

Nowadays, we are alert and deeply concerned about protecting endangered species. Certainly the people of Mauritius learned their lesson, for nowadays they have some of the strictest conservation laws in the world. It's too late to weep for the dodo, but his tragedy alerted us to save many other species from extinction.