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The Mauritius Dodo (Raphus cucullatus), more commonly just dodo, was a metre-high (three-foot) flightless bird related to the pigeons that lived on the islands of Mauritius.
The dodo, which has been extinct since the mid-late 17th century, lived on fruit and nested on the ground. It is commonly used as an example of extinction, due to its extinction occurring during recorded human history, and being directly attributable to human activity. The alliteration dead as a dodo is a commonly used phrase.
In the year 1598 AD, Portuguese sailors landing on the shores of the island of Mauritius discovered a species of bird, now known as the Dodo. Having been isolated on its island from contact with humans, the dodo had no reason to fear them. The sailors misunderstood the gentleness of the dodo, and its lack of fear of the new threat, as stupidity. They gave the bird the name "dodo", which means simpleton or fool in Portuguese.
Many dodo were killed by the humans, and those that survived had to face the new animals brought by the Europeans. Dogs and pigs soon became feral when introduced to the Mauritian eco-system. By the year 1681, the last dodo had died, and the species was extinct.

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The dodo bird, historically, has been viewed as a rather plump bird, weighing approximately 20-23 kilograms. Grey in colour, the dodo is quite distinct from the solitaire (a relative of the dodo which lived on the island of Reunion.) The dodo had a large, hooked beak, and a plume of white feathers adorned the rear of the dodo.

What distinguishes the dodo from many other birds is not just its size, but that it was flightless. Despite its large build, the dodo had small, weak wings which could not lift it into the air. Thus it was easy prey to the Portuguese invaders who would club the bird to death as it approached them seeking friendship.

The nests of the dodo bird were, by necessity, built on the ground as the bird was flightless. The dodo's young were afforded little protection on the ground against introduced predators, such as the feral dogs and wild pigs left behind by sailors. Dodo eggs were trampled and eaten by such creatures, and the ability to repopulate the species after hunting of the bird was seriously affected. While the dodo had existed for centuries or more in the natural Mauritian environment, the impact of mankind through hunting and the introduction of new predators placed too great a strain upon the dodo. Soon it was lost to the world.