A thorough study of the Dodo bird has been concluded by scientists at the University of Southampton, bringing clarity to past misconceptions about the notoriously extinct creature.

The paper, a joint effort with researchers from Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the Natural History Museum, put out in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society on August 16, sought to correct the taxonomy of the Dodo and its nearest relative, the Rodriguez Island Solitaire.

The team painstakingly reviewed 400 years of scientific literature and made visits to collections across the UK.

They studied hundreds of accounts dating back to 1598, and examined specimens including the world’s only remaining soft tissue of the Dodo.

Evident inconsistencies were found.

The notable absence of a definitive reference point or a convention to tag the species resulted in several misidentifications following their extinction.

Some birds were erroneously named new species like the Nazarene Dodo, the White Dodo, and White Solitaire. The study made it clear that none of these species were real.

The common description of the Dodo as a overweight, sluggish creature destined for extinction is also, their work suggests, incorrect.

Dr Neil Gostling from the University of Southampton, supervising author of the paper, said: "The Dodo was the first living thing that was recorded as being present and then disappeared. Before this, it hadn’t been thought possible for human beings to influence God’s creation in such a way.

"This was a time before the scientific principles and systems we rely on to label and classify a species were in place. Both the Dodo and the Solitaire were gone before we had a chance to understand what we were looking at."

Dr Markus Heller, professor of biomechanics at the University of Southampton, and a co-author on the paper, said: "The mystery of the Dodo bird is about to be cracked wide open.

"We have assembled a fantastic team of scientists to uncover the true nature of this famous extinct bird. But we are not just looking back in time - our research could help save today's endangered birds too."