12,000-year-old swamp brimming with bones reveals the ecosystem of the dodo

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

by Natural History Museum

An 1832 description of a swamp said that that it was so full of extinct animal bones that you only had to stick your hand in the water to retrieve them. Inspired by this a group of international researchers, including the Natural History Museum's Dr. Julian Hume, went in search of it.

Remarkably the team succeeded and in 2015 the swamp was re-discovered near Mare la Chaux in Mauritius. Now, a collaboration between the National Heritage Foundation and landowner Constance la Gaieté Co Ltd. has been set up resulting in the first excavation at the site.

The area has already lived up to its reputation and yielded many bones belonging to extinct Mauritian animals. Incredibly the team have found a huge diversity of species represented in the fossil record and bones at a density of around 600 per cubic metre, much higher than the other known fossil localities on Mauritius.

Dr. Hume says, "This is one of the most exciting fossil excavations I have worked on. We are literally peeling back the history of Mauritius layer by layer. The sheer volume of remains, including extinct giant tortoises, giant skinks and Dodos, a culturally significant bird to Mauritius and global icon of extinction, we have found has been incredible."

Dr. Delphine Angst, a paleontologist specializing in fossil birds from the University of Bristol, added, "This is very exciting because for the first time we have dodo bones that are well-dated and associated through time with other animals and plants."

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Rare dodo skeleton is expected to fetch more than half a MIILLION pounds at auction

The skeleton was pieced together using bones from different dodos birds

They were mostly up from a marshland by a naturalist around in the 19th century

It is currently in private hands and will go up for auction next month  

The specimen is expected to fetch between £400,000 and £600,000

By YUAN REN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 17:57, 26 April 2019 | UPDATED: 17:57, 26 April 2019

A skeleton made up of bones from a number of dodo birds is expected to fetch up to £600,000 ($778,000) at an upcoming Christie's auction in London. 

The specimen has been pieced together from bones discovered in Mauritius in the early 19th century.  

It will go up for sale next month with a number of other specimens from around the world including a fossil of the extinct marine reptile Ichthyosaur. 

Dodo skeletons from the same bird is extremely rare, and only one dodo specimen in the world has an intact head. 

Dr Julian Hume, a British avian palaeontologist, said: 'More has been written about the dodo than any other bird, a true icon of extinction, yet virtually nothing is known about it in life.

'Apart from a few bones, a handful of inadequate historical illustrations and accounts, and some 300 years after its demise, this emblematic bird continues to prompt wonder and debate.'

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New species related to extinct dodo found in Otago

A new pigeon species related to the extinct dodo bird has been found at a Central Otago fossil site near St Bathans.

The Zealandian dove, which lived in the South Island some 19 million to 16 million years ago, was identified from a few fossil bones found at St Bathans over the past 16 years.

One of the bones found on the wing was similar to the tooth-billed pigeon (found only in Samoa), the crowned pigeons of New Guinea, and the Nicobar pigeon (South East Asia), Doctor Vanesa De Pietri from Canterbury Museum said.

The latter was the closest living relative of the extinct dodo and the solitaire (another extinct, flightless bird) from the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, Dr De Pietri said.

"Based on the St Bathans fossils, we think that the Zealandian dove is part of this Indo-Pacific group. It is probably most similar to the Nicobar pigeon and is therefore a close relative (or at least a cousin) of the famous dodo", she said.

"The Zealandian dove is the first record of this group found in the southern part of the nearly submerged land mass known as Zealandia."

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Dodo's violent death revealed

Date:  April 21, 2018

Source:  University of Warwick

The famous Oxford Dodo died after being shot in the back of the head, according to breakthrough research by Oxford University Museum of Natural History and WMG at the University of Warwick.

Using revolutionary forensic scanning technology and world-class expertise, researchers have discovered surprising evidence that the Oxford Dodo was shot in the neck and back of the head with a shotgun.

The significant and unexpected findings, made by Professor Paul Smith, director of the Museum of Natural History, and Professor Mark Williams from WMG at the University of Warwick, only became apparent when mysterious particles were found in the specimen during scans carried out to help analyse its anatomy.

Subsequent analysis of the material and size of the particles revealed that they are lead shot pellets, typically used to hunt wildfowl during the 17th century.

The findings cast doubt on the popular theory that the Oxford Dodo is the remains of a bird kept alive in a townhouse in 17th-century London.

Read more  

Secret life of the dodo revealed

By Helen BriggsBBC News

24 August 2017 

Scientists are piecing together clues about the life of the dodo, hundreds of years after the flightless bird was driven to extinction.

Few scientific facts are known about the hapless bird, which was last sighted in 1662.

A study of bone specimens shows the chicks hatched in August and grew rapidly to adult size.

The bird shed its feathers in March revealing fluffy grey plumage recorded in historical accounts by mariners.

Delphine Angst of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, was given access to some of the dodo bones that still exist in museums and collections, including specimens that were recently donated to a museum in France.

Her team analysed slices of bone from 22 dodos under the microscope to find out more about the bird's growth and breeding patterns.

"Before our study we knew very very little about these birds," said Dr Angst.

"Using the bone histology for the first time we managed to describe that this bird was actually breeding at a certain time of the year and was moulting just after that."

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Rare dodo skeleton to be auctioned in West Sussex

25 August 2016

The first almost complete skeleton of a dodo to come up for sale in nearly a century is to be sold at auction.

The composite of the extinct flightless bird was put together from bones collected over a number of decades.

The private collector offering it for sale only lacked part of the skull and one set of claws when he assembled the specimen in the early 2000s.

It is being sold by Summers Place Auctions in West Sussex in November, and is set to fetch a six-figure sum.

'Icon of extinction'

Director Rupert van der Werff said: "The rarity and completeness of this specimen cannot be overemphasised.

"It provides a unique opportunity for an individual or an institution to own a specimen of this great icon of extinction."

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was native to Mauritius but became extinct in the late 17th Century, within less than 100 years of Europeans settling the Indian Ocean island.

The bird, which could not swim or fly, was bigger than a turkey and weighed about 50lbs (23kg).

It evolved in isolation from predators and had no fear of humans. Dodo meat was said to be very tasty, although very little is known about the animal.

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The first 3-D atlas of the extinct dodo

Date: March 25, 2016

Source: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

For the first time since its extinction, a 3-D atlas of the skeletal anatomy of the dodo has been created, based upon two exceptional dodo skeletons that have remained unstudied for over a century. This atlas represents the culmination of nearly five years of work and thousands of human-hours of digital investigation on the only two associated, near-complete skeletons of the dodo in existence.

The dodo represents one of the best-known examples of extinction caused by humans, yet we know surprisingly little about this flightless pigeon from a scientific perspective. Now, for the first time since its extinction, a 3-D atlas of the skeletal anatomy of the dodo has been created, based upon two exceptional dodo skeletons that have remained unstudied for over a century. This atlas, published as the fifteenth Memoir of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, represents the culmination of nearly five years of work and thousands of man-hours of digital investigation on the only two associated, near-complete skeletons of the dodo in existence.

Published 150 years after Sir Richard Owen's first scientific description of dodo anatomy, based on incomplete, composite skeletons, the new atlas is the first to show accurate relative proportions and to describe several previously unknown bones of the dodo skeleton, including knee caps, ankle and wrist bones. The atlas opens new pathways for the investigation of the paleobiology and evolution of what may arguably be one of the most famous, yet surprisingly poorly known animals that went extinct in recent human history.

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Dodos might have been quite intelligent, new research finds

X-ray scans reveal that dodo's relative brain size was similar to pigeons, likely had enhanced sense of smell

Date:February 23, 2016

Source:American Museum of Natural History

New research suggests that the dodo, an extinct bird whose name has entered popular culture as a symbol of stupidity, was actually fairly smart. The work, published today in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, finds that the overall size of the dodo's brain in relation to its body size was on par with its closest living relatives: pigeons--birds whose ability to be trained implies a moderate level of intelligence. The researchers also discovered that the dodo had an enlarged olfactory bulb -- the part of the brain responsible for smelling -- an uncharacteristic trait for birds, which usually concentrate their brainpower into eyesight.

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a large, flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. They were last seen in 1662.

"When the island was discovered in the late 1500s, the dodos living there had no fear of humans and they were herded onto boats and used as fresh meat for sailors," said Eugenia Gold, the lead author of the paper, a research associate and recent graduate of the American Museum of Natural History's Richard Gilder Graduate School, and an instructor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University. "Because of that behavior and invasive species that were introduced to the island, they disappeared in less than 100 years after humans arrived. Today, they are almost exclusively known for becoming extinct, and I think that's why we've given them this reputation of being dumb."

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Why the Dodo Deserves a New Reputation

Armed with 3-D scanning technology, one researcher is out to reinvent our perception of a long-extinct bird.

The Dodo specimen housed at the Durban Natural

 Science Museum is one of only two complete 

skeletons known to scientists. 

Photo: Durban Natural Science Museum

According to the dictionary, a “dodo” is either a dull-witted, slow-reacting person, or a clumsy, extinct bird—and the first definition rose out of the second. But to Leon Claessens, a Dutch paleontologist at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, the Dodo is “a very complex, dynamic animal,” that deserves a little more respect—and maybe a better PR agent.

Evidence found by Claessens and his team may just be enough to shatter the stereotype. The researchers spent the past five years examining every inch of the only two complete Dodo skeletons known to scientists. By studying the way the muscles and tendons attached to the bird’s bones, they’ve realized that the 3-foot-tall, 40-pound avian was much more sleekly proportioned and graceful than previously imagined. They also discovered kneecaps on the birds, which could mean it had better mobility on the ground.

http://www.audubon.org/news/why-dodo-deserves-new-reputation

The dodo: New insights into an old bird

Date:

November 6, 2014

Source:

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Summary:

The dodo is among the most famous extinct creatures, and a poster child for human-caused extinction events. Despite its notoriety, and the fact that the species was alive during recorded human history, little is known about how it lived, looked, and behaved. A new study of the only known complete skeleton from a single bird takes advantage of modern 3-D laser scanning technology to open a new window into the life of this famous extinct bird.

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Dodo Tales: 17th-Century Observations Suggests Later Extinction Date

When geophysicist Andrew Jackson was poring over 17th-century observations of Earth's magnetic field, perhaps the last thing he expected to discover was a new potential extinction date for the dodo, the goofy-looking, flightless bird that became a poster child of extinct species.

The Earth's magnetic field, created by molten iron in the outer core, is the protective envelope around the planet that guards the surface against bursts of solar radiation; without it, life as we know it would cease to exist. Studying the ancient magnetic field of the planet helps scientists to better understand the present-day magnetic field and how it will change in the future, said Jackson, a geophysicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.

This is where the dodo comes in.

Later extinction date?

In the course of looking at past geophysical measurements around the globe, Jackson ran across several writings by Benjamin Harry, a 17th-century British sailor and scientist who was the first person to measure the inclination, or angle, of the Earth's magnetic field in various spots in the Southern Hemisphere. This measurement helped to vindicate the idea that the planet had such a field emanating from deep underground, and helped give rise to the modern understanding of geomagnetism. 

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Dodo Bone, Huge Elephant Bird Egg Up for Auction

Megan Gannon, News Editor

Date: 28 March 2013 Time: 05:57 PM ET

Traces of two awkward birds that have become emblems of extinction are headed for the auction block next month.

Christie's announced this week that it's selling a femur bone fragment of a dodo and a massive sub-fossilized elephant bird egg that's 100 times the size of a chicken egg.

Elephant birds were flightless creatures that stood 10 feet (3 m) tall and lived on the island of Madagascar until they were driven to extinction by the 18th century, possibly due to factors like disease introduced by settlers or humans' unsustainable appetite for their eggs.

Their eggs indeed would have been big enough to feed a family, or several; the complete one up for auction measures 9 inches (21 cm) in diameter and 12 inches (30 cm) in height. It's expected to sell for up to $45,000.

Read on: http://www.livescience.com/28283-dodo-bone-elephant-bird-egg-auction.html