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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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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