"Dodo's violent death revealed" Topic

"Using revolutionary forensic scanning technology and world-class expertise, researchers have discovered surprising evidence that the Oxford Dodo was shot in the neck and back of the head with a shotgun.

The significant and unexpected findings, made by Professor Paul Smith, director of the Museum of Natural History, and Professor Mark Williams from WMG at the University of Warwick, only became apparent when mysterious particles were found in the specimen during scans carried out to help analyse its anatomy.

Subsequent analysis of the material and size of the particles revealed that they are lead shot pellets, typically used to hunt wildfowl during the 17th century…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Yes. The bird was shot. Lots of birds get shot. It's not unheard of. :)

Dan
PS. I wonder which real scans were postponed just so these guys could revisit this.

Dodo shot first

I think you miss the point, CC.

The dodo was the first documented man-made extinction.
This makes it significant in terms of trying to halt the mass of man-made extinctions since.

I think it was less than 80 years from first discovery to last bird through clubbing, introduction of rats that ate eggs &, yes, shotguns, that saw the poor beggars off.

You're probably more familiar with the sad story of the passenger pigeon: one of the most prolific birds on the planet. Destroyed not for food but because they were easy to kill.

theminiaturespage.com�

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At any rate, Tango's post reveals added knowledge. Any research may be valuable & sometimes knowledge for its own sake is a worthy enough goal. However, this experiment may tell us more. The bird in question was not killed by a mariner for food but probably shot by an officer & a gentleman, possibly for sport.

It all adds to the picture &, hopefully, one day we will learn.

"Professor Williams and his team gained an unprecedented level of insight to the precious dodo remains, looking inside the skull of the bird and discovering crucial information about its anatomy, as well as how it lived and died."
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Fortunately they were able to determine that the bird was alive prior to being shot. However, none of the other crucial information about the bird's anatomy and life were related in this story. They must not have deemed it so "crucial" after all.

Poor Dodo!.

Amicalement
Armand

If the Dodo was native to Kentucky … there might KFD instead on KFC …

Fortunately they were able to determine that the bird was alive prior to being shot. However, none of the other crucial information about the bird's anatomy and life were related in this story. They must not have deemed it so "crucial" after all.

It might be dazzling to discover the dodo was shot by a raygun held by spacemen but they can only find what they find.
I'm sure, ZoC, you know the few museum examples were very badly stuffed & recent study has shown a more likely animal:
url=https://postimages.org/]

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If the Dodo was native to Kentucky … there might KFD instead on KFC …

Amusing. The "Dodo's Revenge"! Killing millions of humans through obesity & clogged arteries.

Those so-called "researchers" would impress me more if they were trying to extract DNA to clone the bird…

Why "so called"? Do you know something we don't?
And of course, they are extracting DNA:

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Cloning a dodo will have to wait as scientists are working on something else at the moment:

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And previously it was thought to have died from old age???

Considering only the head and feet were saved, the rest of the bird may have been eaten.

And while 'introduced' by man, rats are likely the primary culprit for the dodo's extinction.

In the area I grew up pheasants (an introduced species) are much rarer now. Limited habitat coupled with predation by skunks (a native species) has drastically reduced their numbers.

As to the passenger pigeon it was hunted to extinction (with help from habitat loss) for food. Pigeons have long been regarded (and raised) as a food animal. Mere 'sport' hunting would not have done it.

"I've been waiting months for this scan of my cancer"

"Sorry sir, but we need to definitively find out what killed this particular Dodo bird a couple of centuries ago"

Dan
PS. And, while this group of researchers pondered on a way to describe the shooting of this long dead bird in the most violent and gruesome terms, another group of scientific researchers worked on decapitating a live Pig, just to see how long they could keep the head alive.
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I wonder why the Dodo researchers didn't do a paper on the Pig researchers then. Hmm.

CC I think you may be confusing medical technicians with forensic palaeontologists.

Quite different fields.

I don't follow your point about the Dodo research team doing a "paper" on the researchers into pigs. There seems to be no connection at all.

goragrad wrote:

In the area I grew up pheasants (an introduced species) are much rarer now. Limited habitat coupled with predation by skunks (a native species) has drastically reduced their numbers.

And here's me thinking the natural enemy of the pheasant was the motor car. Around Scotland they are raised for shooting, and are somewhat "free range" as such most seem to endeavour to through themselves under passing motor vehicles on the country roads forgetting that they do actually have working wings.

ochoin:
"I'm sure, ZoC, you know the few museum examples were very badly stuffed & recent study has shown a more likely animal:"

The lines directly above my post that you cut/pasted state that they did indeed find "crucial information about its anatomy, as well as how it lived and died."

However, none of this "crucial information" made it into the article, as I stated. They DID find it, they just did not include it in the article.

The Dodo was alive prior to shooting. If it was dead there would be no reason to shoot it.

CSI-Oxford

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

Pheasants, as with wild turkeys, are 'runners' rather than flyers when given a choice. Hence the use of dogs when hunting them to push them hard enough to take wing so that they can legally be shot.

One of the last pheasants I did see in the area, though, was the hen that flew into the windshield of the truck…

Goragrad

Maybe it was intentional. Prior to that last leap, did it look as though it were suffering from depression? :)

Maybe someone could have kept the hen's head alive, at least long enough for one of those white coats to ascertain its mental state before the jump.

Dan

"The only good Dodo is a dead Dodo … " Then nicely breaded & fried. With a side of slaw and biscuits with honey.

Pass the Hot Sauce please …

"The Dodo was alive prior to shooting. If it was dead there would be no reason to shoot it."

Unless it was a zombie…

Zephyr1

Thanks a lot! Now I have this mental image of an island full of undead Dodos coming out of the ground to terrorize the poor islanders …

And also out of museums around the world!

Dan

Well in my home town, the media has claimed we have Zombie Raccoons !

One place is even selling T-shirts ! link

I kid you Not !

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