Dodo - Raphus cucullatus

Name: Raphus cucullatus

Origin: Mauritius

size: 72 x 62 x 26cm

(molding / cast)

The Mauritius dodo (Raphus cucullatus), better known as the dodo, although it is not the only species whose vernacular name is dodo, is an endemic bird species of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and therefore belonging to the Columbidae family, this dodo lived in forests or plains. It measured about one meter for an average mass of 10.2 kilograms. Discovered in 1598, it was described as slow, not fleeing the human being, large and almost cubic. Its blue-grey plumage was provided with atrophied yellow and white wings, as well as a plume of four or five feathers of the same colors as a tail. Its yellow paws featured four toes (three in front and one in back) adorned with large black nails. Its hooked beak had a characteristic blue spot on its tip and a red one on the lower mandible. Its black or gray head had two prominent folds at the base of the beak.

The dodo died out less than a century after its discovery, at the end of the 17th century with the arrival of Europeans. It is today often cited as an archetype of the extinct species because its disappearance, which occurred in modern times, is directly attributable to human activity.