The dodo is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Known for its friendly and trusting nature, the dodo was driven to extinction in the late 17th century due to overhunting and predation by invasive species.
Quick Answer
No, there is no complete dodo specimen on display in the Natural History Museum in London. The last known complete dodo remains were destroyed in the Oxford Museum fire of 1755. Today, the only dodo remains in the Natural History Museum are a dodo skull and a foot.
More Detailed Answer
The Natural History Museum in London does have dodo remains in its collection, but there are no complete dodo specimens on display. The museum has a dodo skull and right foot that can be viewed by the public. These remains likely originated from a single bird that lived on Mauritius in the 17th century.
The skull and foot are the only dodo remains in the Natural History Museum’s collection today. However, in the past there were at least two complete dodo specimens housed in European museums:
- The last known complete stuffed dodo was housed in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University. This specimen was destroyed in 1755 by a fire that devastated the Ashmolean Museum’s natural history collections.
- A second complete dodo specimen was housed in the museum of the Royal Society of London. It was stuffed and mounted in the 17th century, but over time it deteriorated and was eventually destroyed because of its poor condition.
Aside from these two complete specimens, there were a few other partial dodo remains collected throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Much of this was fragmentary material like individual bones and feet. Unfortunately, none of it exists today in complete form.
The dodo’s extinction in the late 17th century and the deterioration and destruction of specimens means that no complete dodo remains exist today. The skull and foot at the Natural History Museum are the only original dodo specimens still preserved.
Why is there no complete dodo specimen?
There are a few key reasons why no complete dodo specimens exist today:
- Early collection and deterioration – The first dodo remains were collected in the early 17th century when the bird was still alive. Being one of the first extinct birds discovered by Europeans, early naturalists did not have proper preservation techniques to maintain complete specimens.
- Overhunting and extinction – The dodo was hunted to extinction by the late 17th century. With the bird gone from Mauritius, no new complete specimens could be collected after its extinction.
- Deterioration over time – The few complete specimens collected did not withstand the test of time well. Being organic material, the dodo remains dried out, lost feathers, and deteriorated in museum collections.
- Loss and destruction – The complete specimens were lost over time, either being discarded due to their condition or destroyed accidentally by events like museum fires.
- Limited specimens to begin with – Only a handful of complete specimens were ever collected. With so few to start with and all being lost, no complete specimens survive today.
In summary, the dodo’s early demise coupled with the deterioration of organic specimens over centuries, has meant that science lost the opportunity to study complete remains.
Where did the two complete dodo specimens originate from?
The two complete dodo specimens that existed in European museums likely originated on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean where the dodo was endemic.
In the early 17th century, both live dodos and dodo remains were transported from Mauritius to Europe by ships involved in the East India trade. Dodos were brought back as curiosities and their remains were collected by naturalists and collectors.
The stuffed dodo at Oxford University was prepared by taxidermists in London around 1750 using remains from dodos killed on Mauritius. The Royal Society’s dodo may have been prepared from a live bird brought to Europe aboard a trading ship before dying. However, records are not clear about the exact origins of each specimen.
Regardless of which individual birds they originated from, both complete dodo specimens likely came from the island of Mauritius during the early colonial period when dodos still inhabited the island forests and swamps.
Where are the remains of the Oxford dodo now?
The remains of the last complete dodo specimen that was housed at Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum were destroyed in a fire in 1755.
This stuffed dodo specimen was the only intact specimen left in the world at the time. Unfortunately, the Ashmolean Museum fire burnt the building to the ground, destroying the dodo exhibit along with many other irreplaceable natural history specimens.
After this disastrous fire, there were no verifiable remains of the Oxford dodo left. The specimen was utterly lost, leaving no traces behind. The species would never again be represented by a complete specimen after the fateful events of 1755.
All that exists today to indicate this dodo ever existed are some written accounts and illustrations made by scholars who viewed the specimen when it was still on display. Apart from these records, the last complete dodo was permanently wiped out by the raging museum fire.
When did the Oxford Museum fire occur?
The Oxford Museum fire that destroyed the last complete dodo specimen occurred in 1755. The specific date of the fire was June 10, 1755.
On this day, a disastrous fire broke out around midnight at the Ashmolean Museum, which was the original building of Oxford University’s natural history museum and library. The fire raged through the night and into the early morning.
By the time the fire burnt itself out around noon on June 11th, the entire museum building was destroyed. The dodo exhibit, along with irreplaceable collections of books, scientific instruments, fossils, minerals and other natural history specimens, were reduced to ashes.
The cause of the fire was determined to be hot ash falling through a crack in the floor from a faulty stove that ignited debris below. This accidental fire dealt a huge blow to early natural history research in Europe as many one-of-a-kind specimens were lost forever.
What dodo remains exist today?
While no complete dodo specimens exist today, there are some partial remains in natural history museums and private collections. These include:
- Skulls and skull fragments
- Leg bones
- Feet and foot bones
- Beaks
- Individual feathers
Many of the bones and foot specimens likely originated from a single skeleton that was disarticulated over time. There are around 12 institutions today that have authentic partial dodo remains in their possession.
Some of the most well-known dodo remains include:
- The Natural History Museum in London – Skull and left foot
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History – Head and foot remains
- Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria – Beak fragment
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands – Foot, leg and wing remains
While these partial remains provide valuable information, the loss of complete dodo specimens with soft tissue preservation continues to limit scientists’ understanding of this unusual and iconic extinct bird.
How many dodo specimens exist worldwide?
There are only around 12 museums and institutions worldwide that have authentic partial dodo remains in their collections. The exact specimen count is difficult to determine, but is estimated around 20-25.
Each institution may hold a single specimen or a few dodo bone fragments. With bones and specimens being passed between early naturalists and museums for centuries, portions have been widely dispersed.
Many of the partial dodo specimens in global collections today actually originated from a single skeleton that was dismembered and divided up long ago. There has never been a complete inventory compiled of all the surviving dodo remains scattered across different institutions.
While dozens of dodos may have originally been shipped to Europe in the 17th century while the bird was still alive, those complete specimens no longer exist. All that remains are a couple dozen bone fragments, feet, beaks and feathers representing a handful of individual dodos at most.
What representations exist of the complete Oxford dodo specimen?
While the last complete dodo specimen at Oxford University was destroyed in 1755, there are some surviving representations that provide an idea of what this specimen looked like.
These include:
- Written descriptions – 17th and 18th century naturalists, including Thomas Herbert and Sir Hans Sloane, examined the specimen and wrote physical descriptions of it.
- Illustrations – Artists illustrated the complete Oxford dodo from life. Some were published as engravings, such as the 1651 illustration by Adriaen van de Venne.
- Oil paintings – At least two 17th century oil paintings depict the Oxford dodo. One was by Flemish artist Jan Savery around 1626. Another was by Dutch painter Roelant Savery in 1611.
While crude by modern standards, these eyewitness accounts confirm the Oxford dodo had greyish plumage, large hooked beak, and stubby wings, matching the known skeletal anatomy of dodos. Thanks to multiple records of this specimen, scientists have a good idea of the dodo’s appearance.
Who wrote descriptions of the Oxford dodo before it was destroyed?
Some key 17th and 18th century naturalists who examined the stuffed dodo specimen at Oxford University and left written descriptions of it include:
- Sir Thomas Herbert – English traveler who visited Oxford in 1634 and provided one of the earliest accounts of the specimen’s appearance and anatomy.
- Sir Hans Sloane – Royal Society president who studied natural history and saw the dodo in 1685, measuring its dimensions.
- Christopher Merrett – Physician and naturalist who described the texture of the dodo’s skin and plumage in 1670.
- Robert Plot – First professor of chemistry at Oxford and author who included the dodo in his 1677 natural history of the university.
Thanks to being well-studied and described by English scholars over decades, the Oxford dodo was relatively well documented compared to many other early natural history specimens. Descriptions were published and distributed before its tragic loss by fire in 1755.
Conclusion
While the iconic dodo bird can no longer be seen alive or represented by a complete specimen, it continues to fascinate the public and scientists alike. By learning from the missteps that led to the loss of critical dodo remains centuries ago, today’s natural history institutions are better equipped to properly care for and study precious specimens.
Advanced preservation techniques and documentation methods now ensure that rare natural history specimens are safeguarded for future generations. Although the Oxford dodo is gone, insights from its remains and descriptions allow us to still reconstruct and understand this uniquely fascinating and unfortunate extinct bird.
The dodo serves as a symbol of humanity’s impacts on the natural world. It reminds us of our collective responsibility today to conserve and protect threatened species and ecosystems wherever possible, so that more irreplaceable plants and animals do not follow the dodo into oblivion.