READING AND USE – PART 2

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The Dodo Bird

Dodos (0) WERE settled in Mauritius over 4 million years ago. They were birds that had (9) need or ability to fly. They lived and nested on the ground and ate fruits that had fallen from trees. There were no mammals (10) the island and a large variety of bird species lived in the dense forests.

In 1505, the Portuguese (11)  foot on Mauritius becoming the first inhabitants of the island which quickly became a stopover for trade ships. Weighing (12)  to 50 pounds, the dodo was a welcome source of fresh meat for the sailors so, large (13)  of the birds were killed just for food.

Later, when the Dutch used the island as a colony, pigs and monkeys were brought to the island (14)  with the convicts. Many of the ships that came to Mauritius also had uninvited rats aboard, some of (15)  escaped onto the island. The rats, pigs and monkeys ate dodo eggs in the ground nests and so their population gradually decreased.

The combination of human exploitation and the introduction of new species significantly affected the dodos. Within 100 years of the arrival of humans on Mauritius, the once abundant dodo became a rare bird. The (16)  one was killed in 1681.