Q 01/05

The dodo's home island of Mauritius lies in which body of water?

A) The Atlantic Ocean

B) The Indian Ocean

C) The Pacific Ocean

D) The Red Sea

Answer · why

B) The Indian Ocean

It sits east of Madagascar; a 'white dodo' once believed to live on nearby Réunion was really a confused memory of an ibis.

Q 02/05

The dodo belonged to which family of birds?

A) Ostriches and rheas

B) Rails

C) Pigeons and doves

D) Vultures

Answer · why

C) Pigeons and doves

Early scientists variously called it a small ostrich, a rail, an albatross or a vulture before the pigeon idea won out.

Q 03/05

What is the dodo's closest living relative?

A) The crowned pigeon

B) The wood pigeon

C) The Nicobar pigeon

D) The passenger pigeon

Answer · why

C) The Nicobar pigeon

DNA from the Oxford specimen placed it nearest that Southeast Asian bird, then the crowned pigeons of New Guinea.

Q 04/05

The dodo's closest relative of all, also extinct and flightless, was which bird?

A) The Rodrigues solitaire

B) The great auk

C) The Réunion ibis

D) The elephant bird

Answer · why

A) The Rodrigues solitaire

Together they formed the subtribe Raphina, created in 2024 just for the two of them.

Q 05/05

How tall was a dodo?

A) About 30 to 40 cm

B) About 1.2 to 1.5 m

C) About 2 m

D) About 63 to 75 cm

Answer · why

D) About 63 to 75 cm

Estimates of its weight in the wild run from about 10 to 17 kg; captive birds painted in Europe were probably overfed.