It has not been very long since we lost the dodo – only about three centuries – but the exact date has been difficult to pin down. In order to understand the legacy of the dodo, a little background on its demise is required. The dodo looked so stupid because we made it so. Notes, skeletal scraps, a disregard for soft-tissue anatomy, and a bit of artistic license created this symbol of extinction. What other fate could there have been for such a foolish-looking ground pigeon? A grotesque, tubby creature with huge nostrils and a ridiculous little poof of tail feathers, Raphus cucullatus had the air of a bird that stood still with a blank stare as the scythe of extinction lopped off its head.īut the dodo I have always known is not a true reflection of the bird. I hate to say it, but the dodo looked as if it deserved extinction. – Charlotte Turner Smith, A natural history of birds: intended chiefly for young persons, 1807 Its history is little known but if the representation of it be at all just, this is the ugliest and most disgusting of birds, resembling in its appearance one of those bloated and unwieldy persons who by a long course of vicious and gross indulgences are become a libel on the human figure. ATTACKED BY A BRITISH MYSTERY CAT! - A HITHERTO-UN.The Dodo, Didus, is a bird that inhabits some of the islands of the East Indies.LIONS AND SATYRS AND DRAGONS, OH MY! – CAR BOOT SA.WHEN DID THE CAROLINA PARAKEET REALLY DIE OUT?.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE WEREWOLF PAW.THAT WASN'T!.LEGUATIA GIGANTEA - THE GIANT BIRD THAT NEVER WAS?.THE PINK-TUSKED BLACK ELEPHANT - A FORGOTTEN CHINE.

NANDI BEARS AND DEATH BIRDS - MY TOP TEN DEADLIEST.

MORE SKY BEASTS?– SOME HITHERTO-UNPUBLISHED SIGHTI.

UNMASKING THE MOONRAT - A HAIRY HEDGEHOG THE SIZE.

A SNAKE WITH A HEAD AT EACH END? - THE AMPHISBAENA.

KICKING UP A STINK ABOUT THE INK MONKEY.

THE TWO-HEADED KESTREL THAT CAME HOME WITH THE GRO.

MY TWO-HEADED KESTREL – ALL IS REVEALED!.

Two more in Oxford's Anatomy School disappeared around 1750.' didn't even invent pickling specimens in alcohol until the mid-1660s! As far as I know there are NO 17thC specimens intact anywhere, and very few that pre-date the mid-1700s - most of the huge (former) royal collection in Paris (including almost all of Brisson and Buffon's types) was destroyed around 1800 when they tried to save it by fumigation, but the sulphur fumes damaged the specimens more than the bugs they were trying to kill!.The stuffed dodo in Prague was at some point reduced to just a skull and some bones that still survive. Very few survived as far as the mid-18thC, the decaying dodo was a late survivor, and the Ashmolean dumped ALL their remaining 17thC specimens at the same time as the dodo. So the specimens simply over time succumbed to moths and mites, only the hard bits generally surviving (i.e. 1600s) skins were just cleaned and dried (rarely stuffed) without preservative - or any they used was short-lived. He is the author of such seminal works as Mystery Cats of the World (1989), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993 greatly expanded in 2012 as The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals), Dragons: A Natural History (1995), In Search of Prehistoric Survivors (1995), The Unexplained (1996), From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings (1997), Mysteries of Planet Earth (1999), The Hidden Powers of Animals (2001), The Beasts That Hide From Man (2003), Extraordinary Animals Revisited (2007), Dr Shuker's Casebook (2008), Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times (2010), Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012), Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History (2013), Dragons in Zoology, Cryptozoology, and Culture (2013), The Menagerie of Marvels (2014), A Manif estation of Monsters (2015), Here's Nessie! (2016), and what is widely considered to be his cryptozoological magnum opus, Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors (2016) - plus, very excitingly, his first two long-awaited, much-requested ShukerNature blog books (2019, 2020). Zoologist, media consultant, and science writer, Dr Karl Shuker is also one of the best known cryptozoologists in the world.

Dodo bird stuffed