home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
/ Treasures of the America…Museum of Natural History / Treasures of the American Museum of Natural History.iso / pc / treasure / tr21 / t21pg02.pic (.png) < prev    next >
Macintosh Picture Format  |  1996-09-10  |  188.5 KB  |  640x310  |  8-bit (196 colors)
   ocr: they were extinct. Some of the birds were eaten by the Dutch sailors who discovered them, but early accounts speak of the poor taste and toughness of dodo meat. The primary causes of the bird's extinction were the destruction of the forest (which cut off the dodos' food supply) and the animals that the sailors brought with them, including cats, rats, and pigs, which destroyed dodo nests. The dodo's stubby wings and heavy, ungainly body, as well as historical reports, tell us that the bird was flightless. Moreover, its breastbone is too small to support the huge pectoral muscles a bird this siz ...