A strong contender for the title of most misunderstood animal must be the flightless dodo, the bird universally derided as fat, slow and stupid. To top it all, it's dead.
Formerly inhabiting Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, the dodo -- its name derives from the Portuguese doudo, meaning foolish or stupid -- also vies with dinosaurs for the title of most famous extinct animal.
The dodo has also been poorly understood by scientists, who have been scratching their heads over the bird for years. Where did it come from? What did it evolve from?