Dodo birds are being seen like never before, using 3D scanning. Examining one of only two known dodo skeletons, researchers scanned the bone structure of the long-extinct animal to a precision of just 1/100th of an inch. The skull was carefully detached from the body, in order to study inner markings, which could provide insight into the diet of the species.

Dodo birds stood roughly three feet tall, and weighed between 20 and 40 pounds. They were native to the island of Mauritius, off the coast of Madagascar.

The Nicobar pigeon is the closest living relative to the dodo. Little information is known about the habitat or patterns of behavior. Just a few old drawings made of live specimens were the best description biologists had of the physiology of the animal until now.

"Being able to examine the skeleton of a single, individual dodo, which is not made up from as many individual birds as there are bones, as is the case in all those other composite skeletons, truly allows us to appreciate the way the dodo looked and see how tall or rotund it really was," Julian Hume from the Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom, said.

Scans performed on the specimen could shed light on how this species of flightless bird grew to be so large. Investigators found the sternum, or chest bone, in the skeleton was relatively smaller than those seen in related species. This suggests that dodos may have engaged in battle with other members of its species than other similar birds.

Dodos were first recorded by sailors from the Netherlands in 1598. They were slow-moving, and were not afraid of humans. Sailors stopping on the island during long sea journeys hunted the edible birds to extinction by 1662.

Biologists know little of the actual body structure of dodo birds, although they are among the best-known extinct species. This species is often considered to be a prime example of how human actions can lead to the loss of species.

Investigation of the dodo using 3D imaging techniques could assist biologists in learning about other species that undergo a rapid increase in size.

"The history of the dodo provides an important case study of the effects of human disturbance of the ecosystem, from which there is still much to learn that can inform modern conservation efforts for today's endangered animals," Leon Claessens from the College of the Holy Cross said.

Alice in Wonderland made dodos well-known worldwide, cementing their place in history.

A presentation of the 3D finding was delivered at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, held in Berlin, Germany.