 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 species died out before 1700 , less than a hundred years after encountering men . 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 . 
