A species may also become extinct through speciation (see the next page).

The fossil record shows that many species have become extinct since life on Earth began. Extinction is still happening and a lot of it occurs because of human activities. We compete with other living things for space, food and water, and we are very successful predators.

The dodo

The dodo was a heavily-built flightless bird, roughly the size of a swan.

Engraving of the extinct dodo

Dodos lived on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean. The island was uninhabited and the birds had no natural predators.

Then Mauritius was colonised by the Dutch in 1638. Dodos were hunted for food and easy to catch because they were not afraid of people. New competitors were brought onto the island, including pigs, cats and rats. These ate the dodos' eggs and their young. Within 80 years, the dodo was extinct.

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Biology (Speciation) Notiz am Speciation, erstellt von lmg719 am 05/05/2013.

Speciation