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Scientists said
on Wednesday they figured out the dodo's brain size and
structure based on an analysis of a well-preserved skull from a
museum collection. They determined its brain was not unusually
small but rather completely in proportion to its body size.
They also found the dodo may have had a better sense of smell
than most birds, with an enlarged olfactory region of the brain.
This trait, unusual for birds, probably let it sniff out ripe
fruit to eat.
The research suggests the dodo, rather than being stupid,
boasted at least the same intelligence as its fellow members of
the pigeon and dove family.
"If we take brain size - or rather, volume, as we measured here
- as a proxy for intelligence, then the dodo was as smart as a
common pigeon," paleontologist Eugenia Gold of Stony Brook
University in New York state said. "Common pigeons are actually
smarter than they get credit for, as they were trained as
message carriers during the world wars."
The dodo lived on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. The
weird-looking, ground-nesting bird had a pointed beak and
rounded head, stood about 3 feet (1 meter) tall and weighed up
to about 50 pounds (23 kg).
Driven into extinction largely by human hunting, the last dodo
was seen in 1662.
Gold said dodos exhibited no fear of humans when people reached
Mauritius in the 1500s.
"Why would they fear something they've never seen? They had no
natural predators on the islands before humans arrived. Because
of this, sailors herded the birds onto their boats for fresh
meat later in their voyages. Their willingness to be driven onto
the boats is, I think, what led to people thinking they were
dumb. It is rather unfair," Gold said.
Paleontologist Mark Norell of the American Museum of Natural
History in New York explained how the dodo got its reputation:
"It had a catchy name, had a ridiculous appearance, was
flightless, and because of its lack of fear toward humans,
probably due to its isolated habitat, made easy prey: traits
which easily could have been attributed to stupidity."
But Norell added, "Intelligence is a very hard quantity to
measure."
The research was published in the Zoological Journal of the
Linnean Society.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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