 In addition to fallen fruits , the dodo probably subsisted on nuts , seeds , bulbs , and roots . It has also been suggested that the dodo might have eaten crabs and shellfish , like their relatives the crowned pigeons . Its feeding habits must have been versatile , since captive specimens were probably given a wide range of food on the long sea journeys . Anthonie Oudemans suggested that as Mauritius has marked dry and wet seasons , the dodo probably fattened itself on ripe fruits at the end of the wet season to survive the dry season , when food was scarce ; contemporary reports describe the bird 's " greedy " appetite . France Staub suggested that they mainly fed on palm fruits , and he attempted to correlate the fat @-@ cycle of the dodo with the fruiting regime of the palms . Skeletal elements of the upper jaw appear to have been rhynchokinetic ( movable in relation to each other ) , which must have affected its feeding behaviour . In extant birds , such as frugivorous ( fruit @-@ eating ) pigeons , kinetic premaxillae help with consuming large food items . In 2016 , the first 3D endocast was made from the brain of the dodo ; examination found that though the brain was similar to that of other pigeons in most respects , the dodo had a comparatively large olfactory bulb . This gave the dodo a good sense of smell , which may have aided in locating fruit and small prey . 
