The Dodo and its Tragic Ending

Picture from "Nordisk Familjebok" (1904- 1926)

Around 1750 the dodo went extinct. Even after countless investigations, no living dodo could be discovered anywhere. Not even the oldest inhabitants of the islands could remember a dodo. It has disappeared forever. In 2006, a grave was found by a group of investigators under the lead of geologist Kenneth Rijsdijk, with about 150 dodo fossils. This was the until then most comprehensive dodo find of all times. However, unlike most scientists, he theorizes that a natural catastrophe wiped out most of the dodo-population before the humans entered the scene. He assumes it was only after the storm that the sailors killed the rest of the population.

The Dodo and its Heritage

Even though the dodo is extinct, it has become more famous than ever. Not only was it a model for sculptures, paintings and a coat of arms, but it has also appeared in fairy tales and stories. Lewis Carroll and the illustrator John Tenniel gave the dodo a part in their in 1865 written children’s book “Alice in Wonderland“ published in London, which became a bestseller. The Flemish painter Roland Savery was so enamored of the dodo that he drew it over and over again. One can find fossils of the dodo in museums in England, Denmark and South Africa. Even though the dodo is nowadays being used as a marketing tool in many ways, such as the mascot of a brewery in La Reunion, or the symbol of a Finish environmental organization, it still counts as an authoritative lesson for dealing responsibly with the environment and its animals. Hence the famous saying “Dead as the Dodo“.

Johannes Lüttschwager:	„Die Drontenvögel“
David Quammen:	„The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction“
Georg Menting, Gerhard Hard:	„Vom Dodo lernen- Öko Mythen um einen Symbolvogel des Naturschutzes“
Clara Pinto-Correia:	„Return of the Crazy Bird- The Sad, Strange Tale of the Dodo“
Vincent Ziswiler:	„Der Dodo- Fantasien und Fakten zu einem verschwundenen Vogel“