This is one of the few colored images of the dodo made from a living specimen. This hapless and flightless bird was first described by Dutch seamen in 1598 and was hunted to extinction by 1681 by hungry sailors, who saw it as food to carry on board ships. Some attribute it's extinction to changes in habitat. An earlier painting of this bird was done by Flemish artist Ronald Savery in Amsterdam between 1626 and 1628 and is now considered rahter amateurish, thereby increasing the importance of Masu'rs depiction.