THOUGHT the dodo was a lumbering, fat bird? You might be mistaken, says Andrew Kitchner, curator at the Royal Museum of Scotland, who has discovered that early illustrations of the dodo, which became extinct in the 17th century, reveal a distinctly thin bird, while later drawings showed the more familiar podgy variety (New Scientist, Vol 139, No 1888).
To explain the discrepancy, Kitchner opines that the dodos of the later drawings were birds that had grown fat in captivity. He measured hundreds of dodo bones kept in museums and found that a reconstruction of the bird from the size of the bones remarkably resembles the slimmer portrayals of the bird. The bone analysis also suggests that the bird was capable of running fast.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.