{"product_id":"lost-land-of-the-dodo-9781472980809","title":"Lost Land of the Dodo","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Mascarene islands in the southern Indian Ocean - Mauritius, Réunion\u003cbr\u003eand Rodrigues - were once home to an extraordinary range of birds and\u003cbr\u003ereptiles. Evolving on these isolated volcanic islands in the absence of\u003cbr\u003emammalian predators or competitors, the land was dominated by giant\u003cbr\u003etortoises, parrots, skinks and geckos, burrowing boas, flightless rails\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; herons, and of course (in Mauritius) the Dodo. Uninhabited and\u003cbr\u003eonly discovered in the 1500s, colonisation by European settlers in the\u003cbr\u003e1600s led to dramatic changes in the ecology of the islands; the birds\u003cbr\u003eand tortoises were slaughtered indiscriminately while introduced rats,\u003cbr\u003ecats, pigs and monkeys destroyed their eggs, the once-extensive forests\u003cbr\u003elogged, and invasive introduced plants from all over the tropics\u003cbr\u003edevastated the ecosystem. The now-familiar icon of extinction, the\u003cbr\u003eDodo, was gone from Mauritius within 50 years of human settlement, and\u003cbr\u003eover the next 150 years many of the Mascarenes'' ot\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51359442895191,"sku":"9781472980809","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781472980809.jpg?v=1754124661","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/lost-land-of-the-dodo-9781472980809","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}