These images are all imaginings of Dodo's over the centuries ....
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| Dodo's Were Strange Looking Birds .... |
Its strange how different the bird looks in many of the images.
Well it turns out that it isn't because the illustrators of the 18th and 19th century were stupid.
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| Illustrators Could Never Make Up Their Minds Up .... |
Nor in fact were the sailors who described the birds to the artists,
necessarily drunk.
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| Fat or Skinny .... |
It turns out that the reason why these mariners gave such varying descriptions was that the extinct bird was a continuous moulter, it was loosing and growing plumage all year round, and so dependent upon the season the sailors arrived on the island of Mauritius, the bird could look radically different.
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| .... But Now We Know Why Drawing Them Has Caused So Much Angst |
This discovery was made by the wonderfully named palaeontologist, Doctor Delphine Angst of Cape Town South Africa.
Apparently the dodo stunned easily. Beautiful plumage !
ReplyDeleteYou might find this interesting. A Dodo at Oxford: The Unreliable Account of a Student and his Pet Dodo
DeleteExcerpt from the science students diary. He even undertakes experiments on the dodo in his rooms, off the High Street.
“Dodo dropp’d like a stone, rebounded from the bed with great force, knocking Mr Tompkyns downe where he stood watching. Neither suffered great hurt, except in dignitie. Demonstration: dodo lacks natural proclivite for flight.”
I thought all BBC links were https these days but obviously not.
Thanks for the link, it's an interesting story.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI can't get that link to work, it's as dead as.... X_X
DeleteAhh, it works if you take the "s" off https. I'll give it a gander.
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