Editing Dodo (section)

=== Reproduction and development ===
[[File:Dodo egg replica.jpg|thumb|alt=Replica dodo egg and nest|Replica of an alleged dodo egg in a reconstructed nest, [[East London Museum]]]]

As it was flightless and terrestrial and there were no [[mammalian]] predators or other kinds of natural enemy on Mauritius, the dodo probably nested on the ground.{{sfn|Fuller|2002|pp=43–44}} The account by François Cauche from 1651 is the only description of the egg and the [[Bird call|call]]:
{{quotation |I have seen in Mauritius birds bigger than a Swan, without feathers on the body, which is covered with a black down; the hinder part is round, the rump adorned with curled feathers as many in number as the bird is years old. In place of wings they have feathers like these last, black and curved, without webs. They have no tongues, the beak is large, curving a little downwards; their legs are long, scaly, with only three toes on each foot. It has a cry like a [[goose|gosling]], and is by no means so savoury to eat as the Flamingos and Ducks of which we have just spoken. They only lay one egg which is white, the size of a halfpenny roll, by the side of which they place a white stone the size of a hen's egg. They lay on grass which they collect, and make their nests in the forests; if one kills the young one, a grey stone is found in the gizzard. We call them ''Oiseaux de Nazaret''. The fat is excellent to give ease to the muscles and nerves.<ref name=Strickland4to112/>}}

{{multiple image
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|image1 = Dodo bone thin sections showing ontogenetic growth series.jpg
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|caption1 = Thin sections of hindlimb bones showing stages of the [[growth series]]

|image2 = Dodo life history.jpg
|caption2 = Diagram showing life history events of a dodo based on [[histology]] and accounts
|alt2 = 
}}
Cauche's account is problematic, since it also mentions that the bird he was describing had three toes and no tongue, unlike dodos. This led some to believe that Cauche was describing a new species of dodo ("''Didus nazarenus''"). The description was most probably mingled with that of a [[cassowary]], and Cauche's writings have other inconsistencies.{{sfn|Cheke|Hume|2008|p=27}} A mention of a "young ostrich" taken on board a ship in 1617 is the only other reference to a possible juvenile dodo.{{sfn|Cheke|Hume|2008|p=162}} An egg claimed to be that of a dodo is stored in the [[East London Museum]] in South Africa. It was donated by the South African museum official [[Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer]], whose great aunt had received it from a captain who claimed to have found it in a swamp on Mauritius. In 2010, the curator of the museum proposed using genetic studies to determine its authenticity.<ref>{{cite news | last = Laing | first = A. | date = 27 August 2010 | work = The Daily Telegraph | location = London | title = Last surviving Dodo egg could be tested for authenticity | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7968811/Last-surviving-Dodo-egg-could-be-tested-for-authenticity.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100829160254/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7968811/Last-surviving-Dodo-egg-could-be-tested-for-authenticity.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 29 August 2010 }}</ref> It may instead be an aberrant [[ostrich egg]].<ref name=Fuller2002p43/>

Because of the possible single-egg clutch and the bird's large size, it has been proposed that the dodo was [[K-selected]], meaning that it produced few [[altricial]] offspring, which required parental care until they matured. Some evidence, including the large size and the fact that tropical and frugivorous birds have slower growth rates, indicates that the bird may have had a protracted development period.<ref name=Livezey1993/> The fact that no juvenile dodos have been found in the Mare aux Songes swamp may indicate that they produced little offspring, that they matured rapidly, that the breeding grounds were far away from the swamp, or that the risk of miring was seasonal.<ref name=Meijer2012p177>{{cite journal| last1 = Meijer| first1 = H. J. M.| last2 = Gill| first2 = A.| last3 = de Louw| first3 = P. G. B.| last4 = van den Hoek Ostende| first4 = L. W.| last5 = Hume| first5 = J. P.| last6 = Rijsdijk| first6 = K. F.| doi = 10.1007/s00114-012-0882-8| title = Dodo remains from an in situ context from Mare aux Songes, Mauritius| journal = [[Naturwissenschaften]]| volume = 99| issue = 3| pages = 177–184| year = 2012| pmid = 22282037| bibcode = 2012NW.....99..177M| s2cid = 514542| url = https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/18486/vz_meijer_naturwissenschaften_2012.pdf| type = Submitted manuscript| access-date = 6 August 2018| archive-date = 23 July 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180723130845/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/18486/vz_meijer_naturwissenschaften_2012.pdf| url-status = live}} pp.&nbsp;177{{ndash}}184.</ref>

A 2017 study examined the [[histology]] of [[thin-sectioned]] dodo bones, modern Mauritian birds, local ecology, and contemporary accounts, to recover information about the life history of the dodo. The study suggested that dodos bred around August, after having potentially fattened themselves, corresponding with the fat and thin cycles of many vertebrates of Mauritius. The chicks grew rapidly, reaching robust, almost adult, sizes, and sexual maturity before Austral summer or the cyclone season. Adult dodos which had just bred [[moulted]] after Austral summer, around March. The feathers of the wings and tail were replaced first, and the moulting would have completed at the end of July, in time for the next breeding season. Different stages of moulting may also account for inconsistencies in contemporary descriptions of dodo plumage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Angst |first1=D. |last2=Chinsamy |first2=A. |last3=Steel |first3=L. |last4=Hume |first4=J. P. |title=Bone histology sheds new light on the ecology of the dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'', Aves, Columbiformes)|journal=Scientific Reports |date=2017 |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=7993 |doi=10.1038/s41598-017-08536-3 |pmc=5570941 |issn=2045-2322 |pmid=28839147 |bibcode=2017NatSR...7.7993A|url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1038/s41598-017-08536-3.pdf}}</ref>