The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is the icon of extinction and one of the most well known specimens in the Museum. No mounted skins of this world-famous bird have survived, so we can only display a skeleton and a model reconstruction to depict what it may have looked like in life. The model, reputedly made with feathers from a cygnet illegally removed from under Hammersmith Bridge, shows it as being a rather fat bird, but recent evidence suggests it wasn't as comically round as we thought. The dodo was a relative of the pigeon and lived on the island of Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa. With no predators, it prospered, searching for fruit and nuts from the ground, its breastbone too small to support the strong muscles needed for flight. Its peaceful existence was shattered, however in the early 1600s when humans arrived. They brought with them rats, cats and pigs, for all of whom the dodo's ground nests were easy pickings. As forests were cut down, the dodo's food supply dwindled, and so by the end of the seventeenth century the last one had died.
Treasures of the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum, London
2010
