Scientists Overturn Century-Old Myth by Proving the Dodo Was Actually Intelligent

New research examining the only two known complete dodo skulls reveals the extinct bird was as intelligent as its living pigeon relatives, contradicting a widespread reputation for stupidity that has persisted since the 17th century. Scientists from the University of Lethbridge in Canada used computed tomography—the same technology employed in hospitals—to create three-dimensional models of the bird's brain cavity, comparing measurements with modern pigeon species and the dodo's closest extinct relative, the Rodrigues solitaire.

What the Scans Revealed

The study examined three dodo skulls, including the world's only two complete specimens held at the Natural History Museum Denmark in Copenhagen and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in Great Britain. A third, less complete but well-preserved skull from London's Natural History Museum was also scanned. By reconstructing endocasts—detailed 3D models of the interior space of the braincase—researchers measured the size and shape of structures that no longer exist, determining that the dodo's cognitive region was precisely the size expected for a bird of its body mass.

Andrew Iwaniuk, associate professor and senior author of the study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, explained the implications: "There is no evidence that the dodo was any less intelligent than its relatives, and we know that pigeons are pretty smart." The research demonstrated that despite the dodo's unusual domed skull structure, its brain development followed normal patterns for large pigeon species.

Why the Reputation Existed

The dodo's false reputation for foolishness originated not from cognitive deficiency but from its behaviour patterns. For several thousand years, the birds lived undisturbed on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean roughly 1,100 miles east of Madagascar. When Dutch sailors arrived in 1598, the dodos showed no fear of humans and gathered around distressed members of their flock—behaviours that made them catastrophically vulnerable to hunters. Within 64 years, the species faced extinction through hunting and predation from rats, pigs, and monkeys introduced by arriving ships. Sara Citron, lead author and doctoral student at the University of Lethbridge, noted that "dodos have always been portrayed as silly or confused birds, a reputation that probably came from their trusting behaviour that resulted in hundreds of animals being killed in a very short time."

Like many island species that evolved without natural predators, the dodo had developed no defensive wariness. Characterizing such adaptive trust as stupidity, researchers argued, misrepresented the bird's actual nature and obscured the human-driven causes of its extinction. The dodo has since become a symbol of species loss caused by human activity, immortalised in popular culture through references in Lewis Carroll's writings and subsequent cultural memory.