animal kingdom
The dodo ( Raphus cucullatus ) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius , east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean . The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire , the two forming the subfamily Raphinae of the family of pigeons and doves . The closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon . A white dodo was once thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion , but this is now thought to have been confusion based on the Réunion ibis and paintings of white dodos. Subfossil remains show the dodo was about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) tall and may have weighed 10.6–17.5 kg (23–39 lb) in the wild. The dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century....