Syndactyly is the medical term for webbed or conjoined fingers or toes. In most cases the fingers are connected only by skin. It is rare that the bones are also fused together.
Dodo birds became extinct because of the combination of overhunting by humans and non-native predators that were introduced by humans to their native island. Dodo birds only inhabited the island of Mauritius, where they had no natural predators. Accordingly, the dodo bird had lost the power of flight and possessed few defensive behaviors by the time humans arrived on the island.
The last confirmed sighting of a dodo bird occurred in 1662 on the small island of Mauritus. Unconfirmed sightings persisted until the 1690s, but most experts agree the bird species was fully extinct by 1700. Continue Reading.