Using 3D laser surface scans of two skeletons of the dodo, paleontologists have reconstructed how this famous extinct bird lived, looked, and behaved.
The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) by Frederick William Frohawk, 1905.
The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
The bird was first discovered by European sailors in 1598, and was extinct by 1680.
It was about 1 m tall, weighed 10-23 kg and had blue-gray plumage, a big head, a long bill, small useless wings, stout yellow legs, and a tuft of curly feathers high on its rear end.
Although the dodos were easy to catch, their meat was not that tasty; their rapid decline was probably due less to hunting, and more to the fact that the dogs, cats, rats and pigs, introduced to Mauritius, destroyed the dodos’ eggs and habitat.
The only known near-complete skeleton of a single individual of the dodo was found by amateur naturalist Etienne Thirioux on Mauritius more than a century ago. This specimen, housed at the Natural History Museum in Port Louis, Mauritius, has never been described, and many details regarding its provenance and its collector have remained obscure.
Etienne Thirioux assembled another exceptional, partially associated skeleton of the dodo, housed at the Durban Museum of Natural Science in South Africa.
Now, scientists from Mauritius and three European countries have released the first ever 3D scans of these specimens, offering crucial insights into how the dodo may have evolved its giant size, how it walked and lived in its forest home.
“The Thirioux dodos contain previously unknown or undescribed skeletal elements, including the patellae and tarsal sesamoids. They also preserve relative skeletal proportions that cannot be gleaned from other composite skeletons,” the scientists said.
“Examination of the scans supports the interpretation that the Port Louis specimen largely derives from a single individual, and that the Durban skeleton is a partial composite that contains a large number of associated bones, including the pectoral girdle.”
“The relative proportions of the dodo hind limb skeleton are similar to smaller flying columbids, but the bones are much more robust.”
Study co-author Dr Kenneth Rijsdijk from the University of Amsterdam said: “having a complete single individual has allowed study of the dodo’s sternum (breastbone) in context.”
“Its size relative to the closely related extinct flightless Rodrigues solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria), which was known to have used its wings in combat, but lacking a keel on the sternum, unlike flying pigeons and the Rodrigues solitaire indicates that the dodo may have shown less intraspecific antagonistic behavior.”
Study lead author Dr Leon Claessens the College of the Holy Cross said: “the history of the dodo provides an important case study of the effects of human disturbance of the ecosystem, from which there is still much to learn that can inform modern conservation efforts for today’s endangered animals.”
The results were presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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