The Moral Challenge SECTION F


However, in 1598, Portuguese sailors discovered Mauritius on their route east to the Spice Islands. The dodo was unlike anything they had ever seen, and, having lived in solitude on the island with no natural predators, it had no fear of humans. This made it easy prey.


The dodo was a welcome source of fresh meat for the hungry sailors. Huge numbers were killed for food. But worse was to follow. The ships that came to Mauritius had rats aboard, some of which escaped onto the island. In time, settlers brought monkeys and pigs with them. These killed the dodos’ chicks and ate their vulnerable eggs in their easily accessible nesting grounds. Within 100 years of the arrival of humans on Mauritius, the once abundant dodo had become extinct.


No one paid much heed to the disappearance of the last dodo in 1681. This is because it would take years before people began to notice its harmful impact on the islands’ trees.


By the mid-20th century it was becoming obvious that the beautiful Mauritian calvaria (a hardwood tree) was dying out. There were only thirteen left on the island. Scientists reckoned that all of these remaining trees were about 300 years old. No new trees had germinated since the late 1600s.


Since the average lifespan of this tree was about 300 years, the last members of the calvaria would soon die, and the species would be extinct. It was no coincidence that these trees had stopped reproducing three centuries earlier. Why?


Because the dodo played an essential part in the life-cycle of the calvaria tree. The dodo ate the fruit of this tree. Their seeds had such thick hulls that they could only sprout and grow after they had been eaten and run through the dodo’s digestive tract.


Fortunately, ornithologist Dr Stanley Temple discovered that turkeys could mimic the action of the dodo’s digestive system. This has allowed the calvaria tree to be saved from extinction.


The tragedy of the dodo highlights the harmful effects we can have upon the environment. It is all too easy to disrupt the delicate balance of nature by destroying whole species. People not only wiped out the dodo, but disrupted nature in unforeseen ways.


This story serves to highlight the dangerous implications of driving any life form to extinction. This point is particularly important today. Due to human activity, more and more species are now threatened with extinction.


Waking up to Reality


The disappearance of both the passenger pigeon and the dodo could soon be repeated by many other species. Some fear that if current trends continue, the following animals may also become extinct by the middle of this century: the albatross, the elephant, the penguin, the polar bear, the tiger, the turtle and the whale.


Sadly, for most of our history, people have behaved as if the Earth has an unlimited capacity to absorb whatever abuse we may heap upon it and still continue to support human life. However, an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence shows that this idea is completely mistaken.


Just think about those things that are essential to us:


n Air n Water


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Australia’s little penguins (or fairy penguins as they are also called) – another endangered species.


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