Title: Dodo
Content: Dodo The dodo ("Raphus cucullatus") is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also extinct Rodrigues solitaire, the two forming the subfamily Raphinae of the family of pigeons and doves. The closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon. A white dodo was once thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion, but this is now thought to have been confusion based on the Réunion ibis and paintings of white dodos. Subfossil remains show the dodo was

Title: Raphinae
Content: The 2002 study indicated that the ancestors of the Rodrigues solitaire and the dodo diverged around the Paleogene-Neogene boundary. The Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues), are of volcanic origin and are less than 10 million years old. Therefore, the ancestors of both birds probably remained capable of flight for a considerable time after the separation of their lineage. The lack of mammalian herbivores competing for resources on these islands allowed the solitaire and the dodo to attain very large sizes. The DNA obtained from the Oxford specimen is degraded, and no usable DNA has been extracted from subfossil remains,

Title: Mascarene grey parakeet
Content: on Indian Ocean islands, with new populations settling during the species's southwards colonisation from its native South Asia. Features of that species gradually disappear in species further away from its range. Many endemic Mascarene birds, including the dodo, are descended from South Asian ancestors, and Hume has proposed that this may also be the case for all the parrots there. Sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene, so it was possible for species to colonise some of these less isolated islands. Although most extinct parrot species of the Mascarenes are poorly known, subfossil remains show that they shared common features

Title: Mauritius
Content: project in order to promote the conservation of the atoll. When it was discovered, Mauritius was the home of a previously unknown species of bird, the dodo, descendants of a type of pigeon which settled in Mauritius over four million years ago. With no predators to attack them, they had lost their ability to fly. Arabs became the first humans to set foot on Mauritius, followed by Portuguese around 1505. The island quickly became a stopover for ships engaged in the spice trade. Weighing up to , the dodo was a welcome source of fresh meat for the sailors. Large

Title: Mascarene Islands
Content: the human settlement of the islands in the 17th century. Settlers cleared most of the forests for agriculture and grazing, and introduced many exotic species, including pigs, rats, cats, monkeys, and mongooses. Many of the Mascarene birds evolved into flightless forms; the most famous of which was the extinct flightless pigeon, the dodo of Mauritius. As well as the dodo thirteen additional species of birds became extinct including the Réunion flightless ibis, broad-billed parrot, red rail, Rodrigues rail, Rodrigues solitaire. Today sixteen endemic bird species survive on the islands. Contemporary sources state that the dodo used gizzard stones and could

Question: The dodo was a native bird of which island?
Answer: Mauritius