Dodos, long extinct, have typically been regarded as spectacularly dumb. However, new research posits that the extinct, flightless birds weren’t as dim as their reputation suggests.
According to Live Science, the latest research on dodos suggest that they were about as smart as modern pigeons, though with a very strong sense of smell.
Dodos went extinct after they island home of Mauritius began to be explored by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries. As a result of their unfamiliarity with humans, they were did not regard the explorers as a threat. As such, they were easy pickings for hunters.
Given their ease around human hunters and the negligence that led them to be hunted to extinction, they developed a reputation as being extraordinarily dumb.
New research indicates that that just isn’t true. Recent CT scans of a rare, intact dodo skull suggests that the birds’ brain to body size would have led to them being about as smart as modern day pigeons.
Further studies on the brain suggest that dodos were capable of recognizing and remembering human faces. In addition, they possessed the mathematical abilities similar to those of rhesus monkeys.
Interestingly, the dodos olfactory bulb, involved with their ability to smell, was unusually large. This find leads researchers to believe that dodos relied heavily on their sense of smell in order to find food.
Another dodo brain quirk: an extreme bend in one of the dodo’s semicircular canals. These are inner-ear organs, responsible for balance. The reason behind this particular find eludes doctors. Why a flightless bird would need additional balance is a question that has yet to be answered.
Scientists hope to eventually analyze more dodo skulls to see if this bend is something inherent to all dodos, or if the one being examined had mutated.