The bones are at least 2,000 years old

Little is known about the dodo, a famous flightless bird thought to have become extinct in the 17th Century.

No complete skeleton has ever been found in Mauritius, and the last full set of bones was destroyed in a fire at a museum in Oxford, England, in 1755.

Researchers believe the bones are at least 2,000 years old, and hope to learn more about how dodos lived.

A team of Dutch and Mauritian scientists discovered the bones in a swampy area near a sugar plantation on the south-east of the island.

The bones were said to have been recovered from a single layer of earth, with the prospect of further excavations to come.

Sections of beaks and the remains of dodo chicks were thought to be among the find.

'Foolish' bird

The discovery was hailed as a breakthrough in the Netherlands.

RAPHUS CUCULLATUS Forest-dwelling and flightless Waded in ponds to catch fish Killed by sailors for extra food Ship animals stole its eggs

Dutch geologist Kenneth Rijsdijk, who led the dig, said DNA samples from the dodo bones could revolutionise our understanding of how the birds lived.

The dodo was mocked by Portuguese and Dutch colonialists for its size and apparent lack of fear of armed, hungry hunters.

It took its name from the Portuguese word for "fool", and was hunted to extinction within 200 years of Europeans landing on Mauritius.