DOD Bestiary: Dodo

Common Name: Dodo (Dodo bird, African chicken, Chicken-pigeon)
Pronounced: (Doh-doh)
Classification: Raphus cucullatus / various breeds
SGOC Rank: Fauna

Length: 2 feet
Height: 2 feet
Weight: 35 lbs.
Diet: Herbivore
Social Structure: Flock (5-10 members)
Home Planet: Earth
Distribution: central / southern Africa (exported worldwide)
IUCN Status: Least Concern

Description:

The dodo is a stocky flightless bird that was once an icon for extinction and species conservation. It has since been found alive and well in Pellucidar, the largest World Below carven on the African continent, and now also roams the surface world in southern and central Africa. How exactly these birds managed to reach the mainland from the distant island of Mauritius remains a mystery.

Many people know what a dodo looks like: a plump, odd-looking bird with a pronounced beak, a bald face, and a cotton-like tuft of tail feathers. Most have grayish-brown feathers in adulthood, but albinos are not uncommon. Dodos are mainly frugivorous; they also swallow stones to help with digestion, which they periodically vomit up to replace with new ones. In the wild these birds are often found in flocks with no real social hierarchy to them. Males squabble over the females during the breeding season, relying on their feathers and a thick layer of body fat to cushion blows from their opponents’ hooked beaks. Whereas the now-extinct Mauritius population lived in a sedate and predator-free environment, the mainland African population is quite skittish and will scatter wildly at the slightest hint of danger. Dodos lay a single large egg in a nest hidden among rocks and brush, which the parents guard until the chick hatches.

While the wild dodo is a slow-breeding animal, recent advances in selective breeding and genetic engineering have made the various domestic breeds as virile as rabbits. Although domestic dodos require more food than chickens they produce more meat per bird and are equally prolific breeders. They are bred and exported worldwide for their edible eggs, tough but rather pleasant-tasting meat, and nitrogen-rich feces used to make fertilizer. They are a cornerstone of animal husbandry all across post-Cycle Earth, and at international livestock fairs there always seem to be a few unclaimed birds running around on the showroom floor.