Question

When the large flightless bird dodo became extinct on the island of Mauritius at the end of the 18th century, a tree also lost its ability to grow. Which was this tree?
A. Raphia palm
B. Baobab tree
C. Tambalacoque tree
D. Double coconut palm

Answer 1

Hint: Loss of biodiversity threat to the natural treasure of Earth. The four major causes of biodiversity loss are habitat loss and fragmentation, over-exploitation, alien species invasion and co-extensions.

Complete answer:
1. In these four causes of biodiversity loss the most important cause driving animals and plants extinction is habitat loss and fragmentation. Amazon rainforest which is known as the lungs of the planet. Which has one of the richest biodiversity is being cut and cleared for cultivating soybeans or for conversion to grasslands for raising beef cattle.

2. Dodo is an extinct flightless bird. It was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is present at the east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

3. According to the fossils of dodo it was about 1 metre tall and may have weighed about 10 to 17 kg in the wild or its natural habitat.

4. A tree also stopped growing after the extinction of dodo, was tambalacoque which is also known as the dodo tree.

5. It was thought that it depended on the dodo for its propagation and that its seeds would germinate only after passing through the bird's digestive tract.

6. So it was claimed that the dodo tree also known as tambalacoque co-extinct because of the disappearance of the dodo.

Hence the correct answer is Option(C)

Note: Co-extinction is a process in which species become extinct then the plant and animal species associated with it in an obligatory way also become extinct.