Island Survival: Starts by chopping a tree-Chapter 66 - 65 Extinct Bird
The creatrure stood about 3 feet tall(0.9 meters), its round body was supported by stout, with muscular legs.
Its feathers were a mix of mottled gray and brown, with fluffs around its chest and neck.
The bird’s wings were useless for flight, but its legs seemed powerful, not gonna lie. It was clearly built for walking and possibly short bursts of running.
Its large hooked beak was pale yellow and slightly oversized for its head, giving it an odd yet birdy appearance.
The creature, or bird, tilted its head, its beady black eyes glinting as it pecked at the ground. Its movement was not full of wariness but carefree, like it had no natural predators to fear.
Then, a faint clicking sound accompanied its foregoing, its beak tapping against stones and sometimes roots as it searched for food.
Jeff’s eyes sparked as he looked at this bird. "This-this... this is a Dodo bird!" he exclaimed inwardly.
With its plump and round body, with tiny and flightless remnants of the ancestral flying birds.
"This animal might be the only plausible living thing other than those extinct animals because Dodo birds are only extinct due to man-made activity," he muttered in a low voice.
The Dodo bird habitat is in Mauritius, a volcanic island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. Before 1598, the island was very isolated, with no significant land predators or human inhabitants.
The environment over there was coastal and had its own lowland forests, particularly rich in fruit-bearing trees.
This Dodo thrived near water sources and areas with dense vegetation for feeding. It is primarily frugivorous and likes eating fruits such as tambalacoque (a type of large, hard-seeded fruit).
They supplemented their diet with seeds, bulbs, roots, and possibly some small invertebrates. Some scientists hypothesize that dodos may have swallowed stones (gastroliths) to help grind and digest tough food in their gizzards.
To keep the information short, they laid one large egg per clutch, and some live solitary or in small groups.
Due to the absence of natural predators, they lacked fear of humans or other creatures. This docility made them easy targets for hunters.
Looking at the bird, Jeff had read some books about its evolution. "The Dodo was believed to have evolved from pigeons or doves that colonized Mauritius millions of years ago. With the environment it lived in, it lost its ability to fly, developing a larger body size for foraging," he uttered, reading the text in his mind.
It was estimated to have occurred by 1681, less than 100 years after humans discovered Mauritius, in 1598, during Dutch expeditions to Mauritius.
These Dutch sailors and settlers hunted dodos for food. While not particularly tasty, their size made them convenient for large groups.
The creature then made another strange call, a mix of low croaks and warbles, before pecking at the ground again.
Jeff stayed low, considering his options. "Should I hunt it for food? But... " After contemplating for a while, he shook his head.
"If I did that the same way as those Dutch, am I going to be the cause of their extinction as well?" he sighs.
"But if they have lived on this island for who knows how long, maybe their awareness and lack of fear must have been changed."
So Jeff decided to test it: if this bird had become more wary, if it would run away if it saw a predator, which was him.
Getting out of his hiding place and crossing the underbrush, he made a strong rustling sound, which stopped the dodo bird in its tracks.
When he saw that the Dodo bird was just looking at him curiously, there was no ounce of fear as he walked his way into the little fella.
The dodo bird just stood there, and when he was close, he looked down, meeting the dodo bird’s gaze.
"How come this dodo bird did not change? According to the records, their lack of fear was due to no predators on that island, but on this island, even an extinct predator was living. Then how come this little fella doesn’t even have any survival instinct?" Jeff whispered to himself.
Squatting down at the same height as the dodo bird, he tried extending his hand, but the bird just let him pat its head.
Seeing the dodo bird acting like this, Jeff could not help but sigh. "This dodo bird to be able to live here being so carefree is really a sight. I hate to break it to you, little fella, but you must hide what will happen if you become food for any other animal," he said to the dodo bird caressing its feathers.
"I would rather not hunt this kind of animal since it would be just sad; what would happen if they went extinct again?" Jeff said, feeling reluctant to kill this bird.
The dodo bird just cooed and let him caress its feathers, as it just giggled like a little kid. Jeff could not help but smile as he stood up.
"You better be careful, birdy. I suggest you find a wife and reproduce if you don’t want your kind to go extinct again," Jeff said to the bird, which just tilted its head, not understanding him.
He just smiled, seeing its confused look, and then left the bird, which was looking at him full of curiosity.
As Jeff made his way back, he was a bit confused, though. " I wonder if the records about this dodo bird are really real. Since it was not afraid of me, it was even approachable. Did it not meet any predators?" the dodo bird, seeing that the human was gone.
It then continued its work. When Jeff returned to the Deer, he went back to the river and began the process of skinning it.
He carefully skinned it, ensuring that the fur and its inside could be greatly used. This process earned him a lot of experience points.
When he was done looking at the sky, it was around 6 in the morning.
Jeff does not know if it, but he just feels it, so not wasting any more time, he goes to work. When he arrives back, he sees that the girls are still sleeping, so he makes a fire and begins to cook the meat by sticking it in a stick.
He planned to cook it above the fire; when he was done, he would begin his hunt to fight that Comodo dragon.
Of course, he would not do it on an empty stomach, so when he cooked it, the aroma wafted into the girls sleeping in their tent.
Their noses perked up one by one, as all of them woke up with saliva on their lips dripping. Jeff chuckled a little when he saw them get out of bed and saw their ridiculous looks.
Ariana, who licked her dry lips, opened his eyes wide, looking at Jeff in the campfire cooking the meat.
"Wow, Captain, you’re so early. What have you caught this time?" Ariana muttered as he sat right beside him, waiting for the meat to be cooked.
"Hehe, early this morning I went to hunt and look. I caught a deer, now this will be our food for the day," he responded with a smile.
"A deer? I can’t believe you can hunt those. They are very fast in running, and I can’t believe you actually caught one," Charlotte said, looking at the pounds of meat placed in the palm leaves to prevent dirt from contaminating it.
"You’re right, big sister, a deer can run very fast. How did you catch much less make it our food for today, Captain?" Layla said, sitting in the campfire.
"Well... I used a bow. After practicing last night, I finally got the hang of it. I have an enlightenment from my practice, so that’s the reason if you want to know," Jeff responded with a smile.
"Ohh," Jessica muttered, accompanied by a yawn as she sat beside Ariana.
Emma was the only one who was dumbfounded, while the other thought that Jeff had practiced bow for years to have that marksmanship.
But she clearly heard that he had never held a bow in his life, "Is he lying to me? from the look of it, he was not from his sincere voice. But still, learning the basics and being able to hunt a deer is not normal" she exclaimed inwardly.
Her gaze at Jeff demanded a question, but remembering the events of last night—about him stopping in their activities where she was in heat—made her angry, so she ignored him.
Feeling her gaze, Jeff could not help but smile wryly as he shook his head. When the meat was cooked, all of them began to take a bite.
Having their morning meal with another meat made them very happy. Jeff ate his portion as he continued to barbecue some since he needed energy for later.
This time, he needed to make it suffer, so when they finished their meal, he gazed at the sky and knew that it was time to act.
[I’m very sorry about the repetitive Chapters; I will be fixing them one by one. I promise you that. I greatly apologize again, sorry]
