The dead are like dodo birds, but there is still a glimmer of hope for resurrection

The national emblem of the Republic of Mauritius looks like this👇

The national emblem is also rich in elements｜Wikimedia Commons

The dodo is probably one of the most famous extinct species. It took less than 70 years from the time it was first known to the time it was declared extinct . Since there is no video footage left and there is a lack of complete stuffed specimens, some people even think that its existence is just a legend.

A strange bird on an uninhabited island

In September 1598, a Dutch merchant ship was hit by a storm on its way to the East Indies. The damaged sailboat gradually deviated from its route and accidentally came to an uninhabited island, which is today's Mauritius.

After landing on this deserted island, the Dutch sailors soon discovered a large bird that was clumsy, flightless, and lacked vigilance towards humans . With just a wooden stick, they could easily capture this "meal" delivered to their door for free. However, this "meal" was not as delicious as they had imagined. The rough meat and thick fat made it difficult for the sailors to swallow and they were very disappointed .

A print depicting the life of Dutch colonists in Mauritius. The "2" on the left is the dodo | Atlas of Mutual Heritage

This strange bird, which had never been seen before, left a deep impression on a naval sailor named Wilbrand. He recorded what he saw in his log and published it in a magazine . This was the first accurate description of the dodo. However, it was not until 30 years after the new species was discovered that it had the familiar name: dodo.

The dodo skeleton and restored dodo model exhibited at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History | Jiangnan Dieyi

The dead are like a dodo

Back in time 10 million years ago, the ancestors of the dodo flew from the jungles of Southeast Asia to this isolated island in the Indian Ocean. During the long process of evolution, they showed a high degree of adaptability. As their body size continued to grow and their wings gradually degenerated, the dodo gradually lost the ability to fly and became the largest ground-dwelling bird on the island .

Based on DNA analysis, the dodo is most closely related to the green pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) found in Southeast Asia. They are both birds of the Columbidae family. So the dodo is just a "big meat pigeon"｜cuatrok77 / Flickr

After the Dutch arrived in Mauritius, more and more Europeans settled and colonized here in the early 17th century. They cut down trees, opened farms, raised livestock... Human activities completely disrupted this originally quiet Indian Ocean island, and the fate of the dodo also changed dramatically.

Colonists also sold some captured live dodos to Europe, India and Japan. Pictured is a dodo depicted by an Indian Mughal painter | Ustad Mansur / Wikipedia

As humans set foot on the island, pigs, cats, and dogs that were not originally on the island were brought to Mauritius , and even rats and crab- eating macaques from Southeast Asia were brought on board. Faced with the sudden appearance of invasive animals, the dodo bird, which had no ability to fly, seemed to have no ability to resist. In particular, the habit of pigs and crab-eating macaques to eat bird eggs seriously threatened the survival of the dodo bird.

For the colonists, the dodo was not only food on the plate, prey under the gun, but also a pet for their enjoyment. Due to the wanton destruction of its habitat by humans and the ruthless crushing of invasive species, the number of dodos was already in danger in less than half a century .

A reconstruction of a dodo egg on display at the East London Museum in South Africa | Frode Inge Helland / Wikipedia

In 1662, the Dutch merchant ship "Amna" sank in the waters near Mauritius. The surviving sailor Volkert Evertsz saw the rumored strange big bird. To his surprise, when this flightless big bird was caught, its struggling cry attracted more of its kind to come to help . In the end, the hungry Victor survived by eating the meat of the dodo.

But what is hard to imagine is that his description became the last record of the dodo in the wild . So far, 70 years after the Dutch first landed in Mauritius, the dodo, which was once carefree, has completely disappeared.

Dutch sailors hunting the dodo | Walter Paget / Wikipedia

A Broken Body of Hope

When the dodo bird first became extinct, its unfortunate experience did not attract much attention. In 1865, with the popularity of the children's literature Alice in Wonderland by British writer Lewis Carroll, this tragic animal gradually became known to people. There is also a slang in English: "As dead as a Dodo", which means dead like a dodo , implying things that are completely gone and irreversible.

Illustration of the Dodo presenting Alice with her prize in the first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865 | John Tenniel / wikimedia

Is the dodo's fate really irreversible? Fortunately, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has a very special and precious collection: the Oxford dodo (specimen number OUM 11605).

Originally, it was a complete stuffed specimen. Unfortunately, due to improper preservation, most of the specimen was disposed of due to decay, leaving only a skull and a foot bone. Despite the tortuous experience of the Oxford dodo, it is the only specimen in the world with only soft tissue remnants . The DNA extracted from the specimen may be the hope for humans to revive the dodo in the future.

Today, only the skull, scleral ring, foot bones, skin and soft tissue, and femur cross-section remain of the Oxford Dodo specimen. According to scientists, the Oxford Dodo was killed by a shotgun shot in the head | oumnh.ox.ac.uk

The dead are like the dodo. The dodo's disappearance from its discovery to its disappearance is as regrettable as a flash in the pan. However, as the first animal with clear records of being unfortunately extinct due to human activities , the dodo's extinction is even more worthy of people's reflection and deep thought.

The fake dodo in the British Natural History Museum. Some of the feathers on this fake dodo came from swans in the Thames.

Author: Jiangnan Dieyi

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