Message about the causes of donut bird extinction. Exterminated by man ... "... dead as DRONT .... Material remnants of type

This story may seem figuratively if it were not for a fabulous reality. On the lost deserted islands in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius, Rodriguez and Reunion, belonging to the Muskarent Islands archipelago) in ancient times, Birds lived Dodo - representatives of the Drontov family.

Outwardly, they resembled turks, although they were larger than two or three times. One bird dodo weighed 25-30 kg with an increase in 1 meter. A long neck, a naked head, without signs of any kind of plumage or a hokholka, a very massive awesome beak, resembling an eagle. Football paws and some kind of wings consisting of several modest feathers. And a small skiing, the so-called tail.

Pulling Bird Dodo

The island, where birds lived, was truly Paradise: neither people nor predators, nor any other potential danger for Dreams simply had no. Birds Dodo did not know how to fly, swim and quickly run, yes it was nothing, because no one offended Dreams. All food was simply at their feet, which did not cause it to get it, climbing into the air or floating across the ocean. Another distinctive characteristic of the Bird Dodo was a big belly formed because of too passive existence; He simply quenched on the ground, which made the movement of feathered very slow.

Lifestyle Dodo.

For Birds, Dodo was characterized by a secluded lifestyle, they were combined only to raise offspring. The nest in which the only large egg-colored egg was settled, built in the form of an earthen hilly with the addition of branches and palm leaves. The accepted process took place for 7 weeks, and both birds (female and male) took part in it. The parents guarded their nest were guarded, not subparent to it strangers closer than 200 meters. Interestingly, if the "outsiders" drone approached the nest, then he was driven by a special sex similar to him.

According to the rendered information of those distant times (late 17th century), Dodo, convening each other, mashed loudly with wings; And for 4-5 minutes, they made 20-30 crashes than they created a loud noise, which was heard at a distance of more than 200 meters.

Cruel extermination of birds Dodo

The idyll of Dronet ended with the arrival on the island of Europeans who took such easy prey as an excellent basis for food. There were enough three birds clogged to feed a whole ship's team, and several dozen saline drone took place on all swimming. However, their meat from the sailors was considered tasteless, and a light hunt for Dodo (when a gullible bird was enough to hit a stone or a stick) - uninteresting. Birds, despite the powerful beak, did not resist and did not run away, especially in this they prevented excessive weight. Gradually, the extraction of DRONTOV turned into a kind of competition: "Whoever scores more Dodo", which can be safely called the ruthless and barbaric extermination of innocuous natural creatures. Many tried to take away so extraordinary copies with them, but it would seem to be manual creatures, could not stand him imposed by him: they cried, refused food and eventually died. The historical fact confirms that when birds hung off the island to France, they dropped tears, as if realizing that they would never see their native land.

100 malicious years - and dontov no

Your name "Dodo" (from Portuguese) birds received from the same sailors who considered them stupid and idiots. Although in this case the people of the sea were stupid, because a clever person will not grow ruthlessly destroy a defenseless and unique being.

Ship rats, cats, monkeys, dogs, pigs, cats, monkeys, dogs, and pigs, also accepted indirect participation in the extermination of Birds Dodo, drinking eggs and chicks. In addition, nests were located on Earth, which only facilitated predators their extermination. In less than 100 years, not a single donont remained on the islands. The story of Dodo is a vivid example of how a merciless civilization destroys in its path all that is free given by nature.

As a symbol of the barbaric destruction of natural creatures by the Jersey Protert of animal protection as an emblem was chosen Bird Dodo.

Alice in Wonderland - a book from which the world learned about the bird Dodo

Where did the world come from about the existence of such an unusual bird? Which island lived Bird Dodo? And did she really exist?

About Birds Dodo, who could stay for a long time in oblivion, the public found out, thanks to Lewis Carroll and his fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland." There is a bird Dodo is one of the characters, and many literary criticians believe that in the image of Bird Dodo Lewis Carroll described himself.

In the world there was a stuffed drone in a single instance; In 1637, the living bird managed to bring from the islands to England, where money was earned for a long time at the show of such an unusual instance. After death from the Pernata, the evacuations made the scarecrow, which was placed in the London Museum in 1656. By 1755, it was ruled by time, moth and bugs, so the curator of the museum decided to burn his burner. At the last moment in front of the "execution", one of the museum workers touched the foot from the stuffed leg and the head (they are best preserved), which became invaluable relics of the world of zoology.

DRONT is a non-flying extinct bird that dwells on the island of Mauritius. The first mention of this bird occurred thanks to the navigators from the Netherlands who visited the island at the end of the XVI century. More detailed data on the bird were obtained in the XVII century. Some naturalists for a long time considered Drarta mythical being, but subsequently it turned out that this bird really existed.

Appearance

DRONT, known as Bird Dodo, was quite large. Adults have achieved weight in 20-25 kg, and their growth was approximately 1 m.

Other features:

• swirling and small wings indicating the impossibility of flight;
• strong short legs;
• paws with 4 fingers;
• short tail of several feathers.

These birds were slow and moved along the ground. Outwardly, Pernoma was reminded by turkey, but there was no crest on his head.

The main characteristic is a hooked beak and a lack of a booze near the eyes. For some time, scientists believed that DRONTs are relatives of the Albatrosov due to the similarity of their beaks, but this opinion was not confirmed. Other zoologists talked about belonging to birds of prey, including vultures, who are also not operas on the head.

It is worth noting that clev's Length of Mauritius Dream It is about 20 cm, and its end is bent down. Body color of fawn or ash-gray. Feathers on the thighs are black, and on breasts and whites wings. In fact, the wings were only their meetings.

Reproduction and nutrition

According to modern scientists, Dreams created nests from palm branches and leaves, as well as land, after which one big egg was postponed. Casual for 7 weeks They were engaged alternately male and female. This process together with the feeding of the chick lasted several months.

In such a responsible period, Dreams did not let anyone to the nest. It is worth noting that other birds drove the DRONT of the same sex. For example, if another female approached the nest, then the male sitting on the nest began to wave the wings and publish loud sounds, calling his female.

The ditch of Dreams was the mature fruits of palm trees, leaves and kidneys. Scientists were able to prove just such a type of nutrition on the stones found in the stomach of birds. These pebbles performed the function of food inheritance.

Remains of the type and evidence of its existence

On the territory of Mauritius, where Dream, large mammals and predators did not have, because of what the bird became gullible and very peaceful. When people began to arrive at the islands, they destroyed Dreams. In addition, pigs, goats and dogs were delivered here. These mammals eaten shrubs where the nests of Dronov were located, pressed their eggs, destroyed chicks and adult birds.

After the final extermination, scientists were difficult to prove that DRONT really existed. One of the specialists managed to find several massive bones on the islands. A little later, large-scale excavations were carried out in the same place. The last study was conducted in 2006. It was then that Paleontologists from Holland found on Mauritius dRONT Skeleton remains:

• beak;
• wings;
• paws;
• spine;
• element of femoral bone.

In general, the skeleton of birds is considered a very valuable scientific find, but it is much easier to find it than a surviving egg. To this day, it has been preserved only in one instance. His value exceeds the value of Madagascar epiornis eggs, that is, the largest bird that existed in ancient times.

Interesting facts about the bird

Dodo causes great interest from scientists from around the world. This explains numerous excavations and research that are held today on the territory of Mauritius. Moreover, some specialists are interested in restoring the species with genetic engineering.

DRONT was discovered on the islands east of Madagascar, which are called the Muskarent archipelago today. Three rather large islands forming this archipelago stretched along 20 parallel south of the equator. Now they are called Reunion, Mauritius and Rodriguez.

The names of the discovers of these territories are unknown. It is clear that the Arab commercial ships were swimming here, but did not pay special attention to their discovery, since the islands were uninhabited, and to trade on uninhabited islands is extremely difficult. The European discovers were the Portuguese, although, if it was not surprising, but only from the second approach, the Portuguese discoverer gave the islands his name.

This man was Dioi Fernandish Pereira, who floated in these waters in 1507. On February 9, he discovered an island located 400 miles to the east of Madagascar, and called him Santa Apollonia. It must be a modern Reunion. Soon the ship chapped "Serne" came across the current Mauritius. Sailors landed on the shore and called the island named their ship - Ilya Du sulna.

Pereira was moving towards India, and in the same year, a little later, Rodriguez opened. At first, the island was named Domingo Fris, but also Diego Rodriguez. The Dutch, obviously, found this name to be difficult, and talked about the island, called Diegoray, which was then gallicated and turned into dygarroys; However, the French themselves called Ile Marianna Island.

The second "discoverer", Pedro Mascarenas, arrived at six years later, he visited only Mauritius and Reunion. On this occasion, Mauritius was not renamed, but Sant Apollonia (Reunion) was called Mascarenhas or Mascaragne, and to this day the island is called Mascares (http://www.zooeco.com/strany/str-africa-10.html).

The Portuguese opened Mauritius, but did not become on it. However, in 1598, the Dutch landed there and declared the island with their own ownership (Leopold, 2000). The Mascarenie Islands presented a convenient transshipment station on the way to India, and soon the crowd of adventurers were flooded with them (Akimushkin, 1969).

In 1598, after arriving at the Mauritius squadron of 8 ships, the Dutch admiral Yakov Van Negov began to draw up a list and a description of the whole living thing that was encountered on the island. After the records of the admiral were translated into other languages, the scientist learned about the unusual, strange and even bizarreally unauthorized bird, which is known all over the world as Dodo, although scientists most often call it DRONT (Bobrovsky, 2003).

Let's learn about it more ...

Fig. Reconstruction of the appearance of DRONT (http://www.google.ru/imghp?hl\u003dru)

They said that Drona made an impression of almost manual, although they could not keep them in captivity. "... they are trusting about the person, but they are not able to tame them: as soon as they fall into the unfortunate, they begin stubbornly refuse any food until they die."

Quiet life for Dreams ended as soon as a person began to actively interfere with the life of the island nature.

Commands of the courts were replenished on the islands of food reserves, for this purpose, exterminating all living in the forests of the archipelago. The sailors eaten all the huge turtles, and then hit the clumsy birds.
On the small ocean islands, where there are no land predators, Dreams gradually, from generation to generation, lost the ability to fly. Coki Dutch courts did not know whether it was possible to eat this easily accessible bird with hard meat. But very quickly hungry navigators realized that DRONT was edible and extremely beneficial to mine. Defenseless birds, harshly overturning from the side on the side and waving the pity "wings", unsuccessfully tried to escape from people flight. There were just three birds to feed the ship's team. For a whole swimming, there were enough few dozen saline drone. It was so accustomed that the ship's trims were stuffed by the fair and dead drone, and the sailors of passing vessels and Karavel was just for the sake of sports interest competed in the one who will score these clumsy birds. From that moment on, Mauritius Dream remained to live in nature less than 50 years old (Green, 2000; Akimushkin, 1969; Bobrovsky, 2003; http: //erudity.ru/t215_20.html).

Flutening Dreams were completely helpless in the face of new enemies, and their number began to decline rapidly. Soon they disappeared at all. All together, people and animals, by the end of the XVIII century, destroyed all Dodo (Akimushkin, 1969; Leopold, 2000).

On the three islands of the Mascarensky Archipelago - Mauritius, Reunion and Rodriguez - lived, apparently three different types of drones.

In 1693, Dodo first did not hit the list of animals of Mauritius, so that by this time can be considered, he has already disappeared.

Rodriguese Donta, or the Dustcher, was last seen in 1761. Also, as in other cases, not a single stuffed him remained, and for a long time, scientists had no one bone. Integrate: And was this DRONT? Especially since Francois Lega, the author of the most detailed description of Rodriguese Donta, sometimes called a 100% liar, and his book "Travel and Adventures Francois Lega and his companions ..." Some scientists considered a collection of retelling of other people's inventions (Akimushkin, 1995; http: // www. Bestreferat.ru/referat-6576.html).

Reunon donont was late. For the first time he mentions in 1613. English Captain Castleton, landed on the reunion with pets. Then the Dutchman Bontechevan Mountain, who spent on this island on 21 days in 1618, mentioned this bird, calling it a "hohlohlostka". The last traveler who saw and described this species was the Frenchman Bory de Saint-Vensene, who visited Reunion in 1801. Pets and man were also the reason for the disappearance of this species. There was not a single skeleton and a single stuffed white drone (Bobrovsky, 2003).

The table shows the anthropogenic rate of destroying DRONTs (Table 1).

Table 1

So, the very first mention of this form was made in 1598, and the most recent - 1801. Thus, it can be concluded that the form disappeared in about 200 years.

When, at the end of the 18th century, naturalists rushed in the footsteps of Dreams, and the search led them to the island of Mauritius, everyone, to whom they appealed to the tips, only doubtfully swung their heads. "No, Mr., we have no such birds and have never been," said shepherds, and peasants.

Photo 3.

1.3. DRONT in Europe

The navigators tried many times to bring drone to Europe to surprise Europeans in a fishing bird. But, if the gray Mauritius Dream could sometimes be alive to be pregnant to the northern latitudes, then with his White Reunonic Meeting it did not work. Almost all birds died during the trip. As he wrote in 1668, an unknown French priest who visited Mauritius's island: "Each of us wanted to take two birds with me to send them to France and transfer it to Majesta; But on the ship, the birds were dying, probably from longing, refusing food and drink "(quota. By V.A. Krasilnikov, 2001).

The legend says that two drone from the island of Reunion, dried on a ship to Europe, really dropped tears when parting with their native island (Bobrovsky, 2003).
Although sometimes this idea was still succeeded and, according to the Japanese environmentalist of Dr. Masaui Khachisuk, studied in detail the story of an amazing flawless bird, in total to Europe was delivered from Mauritius 12 individuals of this obscure bird. 9 copies of Dodo brought to Holland, 2 - to England and 1 - to Italy (Bobrovsky, 2003).

There is also a random mention that one of the birds was exported to Japan, but, despite numerous attempts by Japanese scientists, it was not possible to find a mention of this in Japanese chronicles and books (http://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_buks /Science/lei/01.php).

In 1599, Admiral Yakov Van did not bring the first living Dream to Europe. In the homeland of Admiral in Holland, a strange bird made a noisy perolet. They could not put on it.

Artists especially attracted her to the grotesque appearance. And Peter Holstain, and the Huftnagel, and Franz Franken, and other famous painters were fascinated by the "Drartopus." At that time, they say, more than fourteen portraits were drawn from the captured DRONT. Interestingly, the color image of Dream (one of these portraits) only in 1955 found Professor Ivanov in the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Institute of Orientalistics!

Another living Dodo came to Europe half a century later, in 1638. With this bird, rather, a funny story happened to her chuckle. Dronta brought to London and there for money showed everyone wishing to look at him. And when the bird died, with her removed the skin and wondered her straw. From the private collection, the stuffed fell into one of the Oxford museums. The whole age has crushed it there in the dusty corner. And in the winter of 1755, the keeper of the museum decided to produce general inventory of exhibits. For a long time, he looked at the stuffed poultry with a ridiculous inscription on the label: "Ark" (Ark?). And then ordered to throw it into the trash bunch.

Fortunately, a more educated person accidentally passed by the heap. Surprised by unexpected luck, he pulled the drone head from the garbage and the clumsy paw - everything left from him, and with his invaluable finds hurried to the merchant merchant. Saved and paw, and the head later again, but this time already with great honors were adopted in the museum. These are the only relics in the world remaining from the only stuffed dragon-like "dove", "said Willi Lei, one of the connoisseurs of the sad history of Dreams. But Dr. James Greenway from Cambridge in an excellent monograph on extinct birds argues that another foot is kept in the British Museum, and in Copenhagen, the head undoubtedly belonged to the living Dodo with Mauritius (Akimushkin, 1969).

Fig. Early Dodo drawings (left), Dronta reconstruction (right) (http://www.google.ru/imghp?hl\u003dru)

The traditional image of Dodo is a fat, clumsy pigeon, but this opinion is disputed lately. Scientists have proven that old European drawings show crowded birds in captivity. The artist Maestro Mansour drew Dodo on the Native Islands of the Indian Ocean (Fig. 4.) And I portrayed the birds slimmer. His drawings studied Professor Ivanov and proved that these drawings are the most accurate. Two "living" samples were delivered to the Islands of the Indian Ocean in the 1600s, and the drawn samples coincided with the description. As noted on Mauritius, Dodo was eaten by ripe fruits at the end of the rainy season to survive in the dry season, when little food. In captivity with food there were no problems and poultry became stolen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dodo).

Photo 4.

1.4. Cultural and historical value of Dream

DRONT in astronomy

Dreams became famous even in astronomy. In honor of DRONT from Rodriguez, one constellation was named in heaven. In June 1761, the French Astronte Pingra spent some time on Rodriguez, watching the Venus against the background of a sunny disk (she just crossed him then). Five years later, his colleague Le Monie to keep the memory of his friend's stay in Rodriguez in the centuries and in honor of the amazing birds inhabited on this island, called the new group of stars with the constellation of the hermit on this island. Wanting to celebrate it on the map, according to the customs of those times, the symbolic figure, Le Monie applied for a certificate to popular then in France "Ornithology" of Brisson. He did not know that the brisson did not include Drontov in his book, and seeing the name of Solitaria in the list of birds, that is, the "hermit", conscientiously redrawn the named so animal. And everything confused, of course: instead of an impressive Dodo, a new constellation on the map turned his little representative figure Blue Stone Drozd - Monticolasolitaria (he lives and now in the south of Europe, and we have in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and South Primorye) (Akimushkin, 1969 .).

In compiling the essay of the ecology of the species, the Outecological description method was used by V. D. Ilyicheva (1982) with the additions of individual elements of a similar methodology G. A. Novikova (1949).

Photo 5.

2.1. Representations of the systematics of Dream and their evolution

By the beginning of the XIX century, knowledge of the systematic position of Dreams was very contradictory. At first, according to rumors and first sketches, Drontov was taken for dwarfish birds, since the loss of flight and even the strong reduction of the wing skeleton is a non-discovered phenomenon in this group of birds. So first thought and Karl Linney, attributed to Dream in his 10th edition of the Nature Systems in 1758 to the genus of ostriches. There were more bizarre opinions. Some naturalists considered DRONT by a type of swan, who lost the wings, others delivered Dodo to Albatrosam, and even to Kulikov and Rzhanka. In the 1930s of the XIX century, dodo due to the bare head and curved beak even attributed to the griffs. This extravagant point of view was supported by Richard Owen himself - the undisputed authority of that time, an English morphologist and a paleontologist, to whom we owe the word "dinosaur". And yet, over time, the opinions of scientists bowed in favor of the fact that Dreams are some who lost the ability to fly, as is often found on the islands, chicken birds.

The fact that scientists are considering now the proximity of Dodo to Poland, first expressed, studying the drone skull, Danish scientist Naturalist J. Reinhard. But he, unfortunately, soon died, his point of view was supported by an English scientist H. Strickland, who carefully studied all the available collection materials, including drawings. Strickland called Dream "with a colossal short flip, festive dove." This point of view has become widely accepted in science when the European collections with the oceanic islands of Western Samoa first hit the croculusstrigirostris. The hook-free pigeon is small, the value from the usual sisar, but also the owner of a wonderful beak, ending with a sharp crochet and curved cluster; By his edge - teeth. The beak of this hermit from Samoa immediately allows you to "find out" in it some kind of bizarre beak dodo. And what is noteworthy, the gears of the first navigators also nest on the ground, and only one egg was postponed. On many islands where pigs, cats and rats appeared with a person, the gears began to quickly disappear, but on the two islands - heaven and Savaii, they switched to nesting on the trees that they saved them. Unfortunately, Dronta take off on trees could not (Bobrovsky, 2003).

Photo 6.

All modern pigeons, and they are known 285 species, fly well. In the pigeon-shaped detachment (GolumbiFormes), except for family pigeons and donont, there is still a Ryabkov family (Pteroelidae). But they are (16wides in the world) perfectly fly. In addition to Dodo and his parents, Mauritius's discovers and other Muskarent Islands found there many types of real, i.e. flying, pigeons. Why did they not lose the wings? It turns out that there is no type of pigeon, which, being uninhabited (without predators) island, would become unauthorized.

In 1959, at the International Zoological Congress in London, the German naturalist Luttswager first advanced a completely new hypothesis of the origin and related links of Dreams. In the structure of the head of Dreams and the pigeons, he found a lot of differences. Then other authors joined it, especially after comparing bones and skeletons with Mauritius and Rodriguez. In his book, Dronty (1961) Luttswager criticized the "pigeon" hypothesis of the origin of these gigantic birds. In the structure of hip joints, chest bones and paw drops, he discovered a lot of common with pigeons, but with korostals belonging to the family of shepherd birds. Korosets are badly flying and trying not to take off at risk, but to escape. Moreover, the kosozel donating on the isolated islands lose the ability to fly, and many of those like it are not fluttering shepherds (Mauritius Cowlook, Muskarenskaya Lyshuha, some sinks and breams - only 15 species) extinct, like Drarts (http://www.mybirds.ru/forums /Lofiversion/index.php/t58317.html).

In 2002, an analysis of the sequences of cytochrome genes B and 12S RRNA was conducted on the basis of which it was determined that now the living grivy dove (Fig.) Is the closest relative of Dreams (http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/drons).

According to the modern classification, the DRONT family is included in the dove detachment.

• Kingdom: Animals
• Type: Chordovy
• Subtype: vertebrae
• Class: Birds
• Subclass: New-light
• Detachment: Powder-shaped - Birds with a dense massive body; legs and neck short; Wings are long and sharp, adapted to the rapid flight. The plumage is thick, dense; Feathers with a well-developed fluff. The beak is rather short, the nostrils are covered on top of leathery caps. Food is almost extremely floating and primarily seeds, less often fruits and berries. All pigeons have a well-developed goiter, employee for both accumulation of food and its softening; In addition, the pigeons feed the chicks with "milk", produced in Zobu.
• Family: Dronet (Raphidae) included 3 types:
  - Mauritius donont. Dodo, or Mauric Dream, he is gray drone. It dwells this view on the island of Mauritius - the largest island from the Mascarensky Islands in the Indian Ocean. This species first described Karl Linney himself.
  - Reunon Dream. In the tropical forests of the island, Reunion died another species - white, or bourbon, donont (raphusborbonicus), really almost white, slightly smaller than Dodo. Some specialists doubt the existence of this species, as it is known only by description and drawings.
  - Rodriguese DRONT. On the island Rodriguez, the third representative of the family - Dream Helf (Pezophapsolitarius). Back in 1730, DRONT-Herf was quite common, but by the end of the 18th century and this species stopped existing. There was nothing left of him - there is neither the skin in the museums, nor the eggs of this bird (http://www.ecosystema.ru/07referats/01/dodo.htm).

Enemies and limiting factors

On the islands where Dream did not have large mammals that would have hunted on him. This is a trusting, the ability to recognize the enemies really lost an uncommon creature. The only defense of DRONT was the beak. In 1607, Admiral Verguven visited Mauritius, who first noted that Dronta, it turns out, can "be very hurt" (Darrell, 2002; http://www.bestreferat.ru/referat-6576.html).

After the opening of the islands, people began to actively exterminate the clumsy birds. In addition to the islands, pigs were delivered to the islands, which crushed the eggs of Dreams, goats, who submitted shrubs, where Dronta built their nests; Dogs and cats destroyed old and young birds, and pigs and rats devoured chicks (Leopold, 2000).

Photo 8.

Ecological consequence of extinction of the form

An interesting fact regarding Dreams was discovered in 1973, when scientists noticed the fact that there are old trees on the island of Mauritius - the calcimetor, which are almost not renewed. The trees of this species in the past were also not uncommon on the island, and now on the entire area in 2045 square kilometers there are no more than one and a half dozen specimens of calvary. It turned out that their age exceeds 300 years. The trees still gave nuts, but none of the nuts germinate, and the new trees did not appear. But after all, almost 300 years ago, in 1681, the last DRONT was killed on the same island. The American ecologist Wednie Temile was able to establish the relationship between the disappearance of DRONT and the extinction of calvary. He proves that these birds were an important factor in the reproduction of trees. He suggested that the nuts would not be sprout, until they were curled drone and won't pass through his intestines. Pebbles that Drohot swallowed, in the exzhelitus destroyed the solid shell of nuts, and the calvaries sprout. Temle suggests that such a solid sheath Evolution has developed because Calvarria seeds willingly swallowed dodo's pigeons.

To check the hypothesis, the nuts rained with turks having a similar stomach, and after passing through the digestive system, new trees rose. With the disappearance of Dreams, no other bird in Mauritius could destroy the solid shell of nuts, and these trees were under threat of disappearance (Bobrovsky, 2003; http://km.ru:8080/magazin/view.asp?id\u003dc17036e18e469caa6022be1699e434).

Material remnants of type

For a long time after the destruction of DRONT, no one could find evidence of the existence of this bird. Dodo hunters, disappointed and embarrassed, returned with nothing. But J. Clark (fig.11.), Not believing local legends, stubbornly continued to seek forgotten caps. He climbed in the mountains and swamps, not one Camzole truncated his spiny bushes, digging the land, rummaged in dusty cropping on river circles and in ravines. Good luck always comes to the one who persistently achieves it. And now Clark was lucky: on the same swamp he dug out a lot of massive bones of a large bird. Richard Owen (English Zoologist and Paleontologist) examined in detail these bones and proved that they belong to Dreams.

Fig. Excavations J. Clark on the postage stamp (http://www.google.ru/imghp?hl\u003dru)

At the end of the last century, the Government of Mauritius Islands ordered to produce more solid excavations in the swamp, open Clark. Found a lot of bones of Dreams and even a few full skeletons that are decorated with the most valuable collections of some museums in the world.

After a fire in the Oxford Museum in 1755, the last complete set of bones of Dream burned down.

A team of Dutch paleontologists in 2006 found the Mauritius part of the DRONT skeleton on the island (Fig.). Among the remains found are part of the femoral bone, paws, beak, spine and the wings of Dream. The bones of the disappeared bird were discovered in the dried swamp of Mauritius. Dutch researchers continue to search and hope to detect whole skeletons.

Fig. Drone's bones found by the Dutch (http://www.google.ru/imghp?hl\u003dru)

Dronta's bones are not as rare as his eggs, although they belong to the most valuable scientific finds.

Currently, the only Dream Egg has been preserved. Some zoologists consider this big cream-colored egg as the most important exhibit for their science. It should, must be hundreds of pounds more expensive than a pale green egg of a large gagar or fossil egg-colored ivory of Madagascar epiornis - the biggest bird of the ancient world (Fedorov, 2001).

DRONT causes considerable interest in the scientific world. This is evidenced by the fact that the prospects for the restoration of this type of genetic engineering methods are actively discussed in recent years (green world, 2007).

2.8. Prospects for the recovery of type

A group of American biologic scientists were able to allocate DNA (Fig.) Birds from a sole egg shell.

Experiments with the selection of Paleo DNA (that is, DNA from fossil ancient remains) is held long. But so far, researchers have used the technology of extraction of hereditary material from bones of fossil animals, in particular, birds.

In 1999, British scientists have begun to implement the recreation program using the preserved genetic material of the disappeared type of animal. Moreover, the famous Bird Dream was chosen as the first object.

It is curious that in Moscow, in the State Darwinian Museum, there is one of the few DRONT Skeletons. Scientists know a few skeleton units (Fig.) And bones of Dream, and a copy that is stored in the Darwinian Museum is the only one in Russia.

Researchers of the Darwinian Museum expressed serious doubts about the prosperous outcome of the experiment conceived by English scientists. The arguments were so. First, it is very small likely that such a complex three-dimensional structure as DNA has been well preserved. According to the Museum employees, even from the Mammoth masmonts, which have broken in permafrost, cannot allocate intact DNA - they are all "transit". Secondly, the DNA itself is not replicated. To start the process of its division, the corresponding environment is needed - cytoplasm and other organelles inherent in a living cell.

This consists of the current achievement of American biologists, that they have developed the technology of excretion of hereditary material (DNA) not from bones, but from eggshell. The authors of the new work found that it was in this fraction that most DNA contains - it turns out to be as sealed in the matrix of calcium carbonate. Prior to this, when extraction from the bones, most calcium was simply washed out of the source material. After all, earlier, as they did - from the residues of the bone material, the squeezing was made by special methods; It was placed in saline and washed all the unnecessary. Then the well-preserved cells were selected and the kernel (we will remind, it contains DNA in the nuclei).
Success was even big than expected. It was possible to obtain not only nuclear DNA, but also the DNA of the so-called mitochondria - organelle, working as energy stations cells. Mitochondrial DNA is less nuclear, so it is better preserved in samples and it is easier to extract it. However, it bears significantly less information about living creatures. In addition, this information is transmitted only to the female line.

According to scientists, the shell is a more convenient source of DNA not only because it is easier to extract nucleic acids. An additional advantage is the smaller "attractiveness" of the shell for bacteria whose DNA pollutes the DNA of the desired species and makes it difficult to work with it.

Nevertheless, the most intriguing question remains open: is it possible to use the obtained DNA to recreate long-extinct animals?

Fundamental restrictions for the cloning process seem to be not. The schematic diagram is clear: transplant the resulting cell kernels in the eggs of cows, pre-deprived of native nuclei (with cow eggs it is more convenient to work: they are large in size, the technology of their production is established, there are banks of such cells); Then the "surrogate" mother of the relative species is shears the embryo ... it remains only to wait. In the case of cloned sheep, the probability of success was 0.02% (frost, 2010).

Dronty There were low-spirited birds with a goose. It is assumed that adult bird weighed 20-25 kg (for comparison: Turkey mass - 12-16 kg), height reached a meter.

Drops with four fingers resembled turkey, the beak is very massive. Unlike penguins and ostrichs, Dreams did not know how to not only fly, but also to swim well or run quickly: there were no land predators on the islands and there was nothing to be afraid.

As a result of the centuries-old evolution, Dodo and his counterparts gradually lost the wings - there were only a few feathers on them, and the tail turned into a little joke.

Dreams were found on the Mascarent Islands in the Indian Ocean. Delivered in the forests, kept individual pairs. Nests on the ground, laying one big white egg.

Dreams were completely extinct with the appearance of Europeans on the Mascarent Islands - first the Portuguese, and then the Dutch.

Hunting on Dream has become a source of replenishment of ship reserves, rats, pigs, cats and dogs were delivered to the islands, who eaten the eggs of helpless birds.

For Hunting Dream to him, it was necessary to just approach and hit the head on the head. Who did not have previously natural enemies, Dream was trusting. Perhaps that is why the sailors assigned the name "Dodo" - from the prison portuguese word "DOUDO" ("Doido" - "stupid", "crazy").

Dronet (Raphinae) - extinct subfamily of flashing birds, previously known called didinae.. The birds of this subfamily dwell on the Mascarent Islands, Mauritius and Rodriguez, but extinct from the hunt from the people and predatoryness of the rats brought by man and dogs.

Dronet Refer to the detachment of pigeons and have two kinds of PEZOPHAPS and RAPHUS. The first contained Rodriguese Dream (Pezophaps Solitaria), and the second - Mauritius Dream (Raphus CuCullatus). These birds achieved impressive sizes due to insulation on the islands

The nearest live relative of Dreams is a grivy dove is Dodo and Rodriguese drone.

Grivist Pigeon - Nearest Dodo relative

Mauritius donont (Raphus CuCullatus), or Dodo dodged on the island of Mauritius; The last mention of it refers to 1681, there is a drawing of the artist R. Savere 1628.

One of the most famous and frequently copied images of Dodo, created by Rusant Norem in 1626

Rodriguese DRONT (Pezophaps Solitaria), or DRONT-hermit dwell on Rodriguez Island, after 1761, it was possible to survive until the beginning of the XIX century.

Mauritius Dront, or dodo (Raphus Cucullatus) - extinct appearance, was the endemic of the island of Mauritius.

The first documentary mention of Dronte appeared due to the Dutch navigators who arrived on the island in 1598.

With the advent of a person, the bird became a victim of sailors, and the last widespread surveillance observation in nature was recorded in 1662.

The disappearance was noticed not immediately, and many naturalists for a long time considered a disodian creature for a long time, while in the 40s of the XIX century there was no study of the remaining remains of individuals brought to Europe in early XVII century. Then it was first indicated on the kinship of drone with pigeons.

On the island of Mauritius, a large number of bird residues were collected, mainly from the Mar-O-Suga Marsh region.

The extinction of this species in less than a century since the opening drew the attention of the scientific community to the previously unknown problem of person involvement towards the disappearance of animals.

Rodriguese DRONT, or dRONT-HELP PEZOPHAPS SOLITARIA) - extinct youthful bird of a family of pigeons, endemic of Rodriguez Island, located east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. His closest relative was Mauritius Dream (both species formed the subfamily of drone).

The size of the swan, Rodriguese DRONT had a pronounced sexual dimorphism. The males were much larger than the females and reached up to 90 cm long and 28 kg in weight. The females also reached up to 70 cm long and 17 kilograms in weight. The plumage of males was gray and brown, in females - pale.

Rodriguese DRONT is the only extinct bird, in honor of which astronomers called the constellation. It was called TURDUS Solitarius, and later - a lonely droster.

The appearance of Dodo is known only on images and writing sources of the XVII century. Since those single sketches that have been drawn from living copies and have survived to this day, differ among themselves, the exact magnifies of the bird's appearance remains an extra unknown.

Similarly, little with confidence can be said about her habits. The remains show that the Mauritian DRONT was a height of about 1 meter and could weigh 10-18 kg.

The birds depicted in the paintings had a brownish-gray plumage, yellow legs, a small beam of tail feathers and a gray, underwent in the face of the head with a black, yellow or green beak.

The main habitat of Dodo, probably there were forests in more dry, coastal areas of the island. It is assumed that the Mauritius DRONT has lost the ability to fly due to the presence of a large number of food sources (in which the fallen fruits believed) and the absence of dangerous predators on the island.

The ornithologists of the first half of the XIX century relate to Dodo and to small ostriches, and to the shepherd, and to Albatros, and even considered a type of griff!

So in 1835, Henri Blenville, examining the castle of the skull, received from the Oxford Museum, made the conclusion about the relationship of the bird with ... Korean!

In 1842, the Danish Zoologist Johannes Theodore Reinehartt suggested that the drone was ground pigeons based on the studies of the skull found in the Royal Collection in Copenhagen. Initially, this opinion of the colleagues of the scientist considered ridiculous, but in 1848 he was supported by Hugh Strickland and Alexander Melville, who released the monograph "Dodo and his relatives" (thedodoanditskindred).

After an anatomy of Melville heads and paws of the copy, kept in the Museum of Natural Science of Oxford University, and their comparisons with the remains of extinct Rodriguese Donta, scientists found out that both species are nearby. Strickland found that although these birds were not identical, but they had a lot of common features in the structure of bones of legs characteristic only for pigeons.

Mauritius DRONT was similar to pigeons in many anatomical features. From other representatives of the family, this species was mostly distinguished by underdeveloped wings, as well as much larger than beak sizes relative to the rest of the skull.

Throughout the XIX century, there were several species with Dodo, including Rodriguese Donta-hermit and Reunon Donta - like Didus Solitarius and Raphus Solitarius, respectively.

Large bones found on Rodriguez Island (currently it has been established that they belonged to the Drarta-hermit's male), led E. D. Bartletta to the conclusion about the existence of a larger new type, which he gave the name Didus Nazarenus (1851). Previously, it was invented by I. Gmelin (1788) for t. N. "Nazareth bird" is partly the mythical description of Dodo, which in 1651 unveiled Francois Kos. Now it is recognized as synonymous with Pezophaps Solitaria. Rough sketches of the Red Mauritius Channels were also mistaken to new types of Drontov: Didus Broeckii (Schlegel, 1848) and Didus Herberti (Schlegel, 1854).

Until 1995, the so-called white, or Reunonian, or Bourbon Dream (Raphus Borbonicus) was considered the closest Sorodic Dodo. Only relatively recently it was found that all its descriptions and images were incorrectly interpreted, and the remains detected belong to the extinct representative of the IBIS family. Ultimately, he was assigned the name Threskiornis Solitarius.

Initially, Dodo and Drenda-hermit from the island of Rodriguez attributed to different families (Raphidae and Pezophapidae, respectively), as it was believed that they appeared independently of each other. Then over a long years they were combined into the family of drone (previously dididae), since their exact relationship with other pigeons remained in question.

However, DNA analysis made in 2002 confirmed the relationship between both birds and their belonging to the family of pigeons. The same genetic study showed that the nearest contemporary relative of Dreams is a grivy dove.

The remains of another major, slightly less than Dodo and Rodriguese DRONT, the blatant dove of Natunaornis Gigoura are found on the island of Viti-Lev (Fiji) and are described in 2001. It is believed that it also consists in relation to crowded pigeons.

The 2002 genetic study showed that the separation of the "pedigree" Rodriguese and Mauritius Dronov occurred in the area of \u200b\u200bthe border of Paleogen and Neogen about 23 million years ago.

Mascarensky Islands (Mauritius, Reunion and Rodriguez) have volcanic origin with age not more than 10 million years. Thus, the general ancestors of these birds should have remained the ability to fly for a long time after silent.

The lack of vegetative mammals on Mauritius, which could form food competition, allowed DRONTs to achieve very large sizes. At the same time, the birds did not threaten and predators, which resulted in the loss of the ability to fly.

Apparently, the earliest documented name Dodo is the Dutch word Walghvogel, which is mentioned in the journal Vibra Admiral Vibrand Van Warweyka, who visited Mauritius during the second Dutch expedition to Indonesia in 1598.

English word WallowBirDes, which can be literally translated as "tasteless birds", is a tracker with a Dutch analogue of WalghVogel; The word Wallow is a dialectful and belly to the Middle Diderland Walgh in the meaning of the "tasteless", "fresh" and "nauseous".

Another message from the same expedition belonging to Peru Handrick Dirks Yolinka (perhaps this is the first mention of Dodo) states that the Portuguese have previously called in Mauritius called those penguins. However, to refer to the only known pegs, they used the word fotilicaios, and the Dutch mentioned seems to be derived from the Portuguese Pinion ("Cropped Wing"), obviously indicating the small size of such Dodo.

The crew of the Dutch ship "Gelderland" in 1602 called them by the word DRONTE (in the meaning of "swollen", "bloated"). From him there was a modern name used in the Scandinavian and Slavic languages \u200b\u200b(including in Russian). This team also called them Griff-Eendt and KermisGans with a hint of domestic birds, fought for the prestial holiday Kermes in Amsterdam, who was held the next day, after the seafarers were anchored off the coast of Mauritius.

The origin of the word "Dodo" is unclear. Some researchers take it to the Dutch "Dodoor" ("Lazy"), others - to "DOD-AARS" in the value of "Tolstozha" either "Shishko-shaped", which sailors may have liked to emphasize such a feature like a bunch of feathers in the poultry tail (Strickland Also mentions its importance to the Russian analogue of "Salag").

The first entry of the word "DOD-AARS" is found in 1602 in the Captain Willem Wang Wist-Zanen's ships magazine.

The English traveler Thomas Herbert for the first time in the press used the word "Dodo" in his path essay of 1634, where it claimed that it was used by the Portuguese who visited Mauritius in 1507.

Emmanuel Altem used this word in a letter of 1628, which also declared his Portuguese origin. As far as is known, no preserved Portuguese source mentioned this bird. Nevertheless, some authors still claim that the word "Dodo" comes from the Portuguese "DOUDO" (currently "Doido"), which means "fool" or "Chocanny". Also, it was also expressed that Dodo was a sound resolution of the voice of the bird, imitating a two-way sound, published by pigeons and similar to "doo-doo".

The Latin Adjective "Cucullatus" to the Mauritius Dream was first used in 1635 Juan Eusebio Nirurberg, giving the bird "Cygnus Cucullatus" ("Hood") on the basis of the image of Dodo, performed by Karl Clusus in 1605.

After a hundred years, in the classical work of the XVIII century, called "Cucullatus" the word "Cucullatus" used Karl Linney as a species name of Dream, but already in combination with "Struthio" ("Ostrich").

In 1760, Matyuren-Jacques Brisson introduced now the name of the genus "Raphus", adding the above-mentioned adjective

In 1766, Karl Linney introduced another scientific name - "Didus Ineptus" ("DRONT stupid"), which became synonymous with an earlier name on the principle of priority in zoological nomenclature

Picture of Mansur 1628: "Dodo among Indian birds"

Since the whole instances of Dodo does not exist, it is difficult to identify such features of the appearance as the nature and color of the plumage. Thus, drawings and written certificates of meetings with Mauritius Dreams in the period between the first documentary evidence and disappearance (1598-1662) became the most important sources of description of their appearance.

According to most images, Dodo had a gray or browned plumage with lighter fly feathers and a bunch of curly light feathers in the lower back area.

The head was gray and bald, beak - green, black or yellow, and his feet are yellowish, with black claws.

The remains of birds brought to Europe in the XVII century show that they were very large, about 1 meter in height, and could weigh up to 23 kg.

Increased body weights are characteristic of birds contained in captivity; The masses of individuals in wildlife were estimated within 10-21 kg.

A later estimate gives the minimum average weight of an adult bird of 10 kg, but a number of researchers this number is questioned. It is assumed that the body weight depended on the season: in the warm and wet period of the year, the individuals became fat, in dry and hot - on the contrary.

For this bird, a sexual dimorphism was characterized: the males were larger than the females and had proportionally longer beaks. The latter reached 23 cm long and had a hook at the end.

Most Dodo descriptions made by contemporaries were found in ship magazines of ships of the Dutch East India Company, accustomed to Mauritius from the coast during the colonial rule of the Dutch Empire. Few of these messages can be considered reliable, since some of them were probably based on earlier, and none of them were carried out by a scientist-naturalist.

"... The blue parrots were very numerous here, like other birds, among whom was a variety, very noticeable thanks to the large size - more than our swans, with a huge head, only half-covered skin, and as if dressed in a hood. There were no wings in these birds, and 3 or 4 dark pen were sticking out on their place. The tail consisted of several soft concave feathered feathers. We called them Walghvögel for the reason that the longer and more often they were prepared, the less soft and more tasteless they became. Nevertheless, the belly and breasts were pleasant to the taste and easily chewed ... "

One of the most detailed descriptions of the bird made an English traveler Thomas Herbert in his book "Tale of many years of travel to Africa and Large Asia, launched 1626" ("A Relation of Some Yeares' Travaile, Begunne Anno 1626, Into Afrique and The Greater Asia" , 1634):

Figure made by Thomas Herbert in 1634

French traveler Francois Kos (Françoiscauchau) in a report on his journey published in 1651, which included a two-week stay at Mauritius (from July 15, 638), left the only description of the egg and voice mail to us.

"... only here and on the island of Digrois (Rodriguez, probably mean Dodo's Dodo) is born Bird-Dodo, which in form and by rarity can compete with Arabian Phoenix: the body of its rounded and cargo, and it weighs less than fifty pounds. . It is considered more than a food than food; From them and the washed stomachs can get sick, and for gentle this insult, but not food.

From the appearance, it sesters the despondency caused by the injustice of nature that created such a huge body, supplemented with wings as small and helpless that they serve only in order to prove that this is a bird.

Its half clips are naked and as if covered with a thin veil, the beak bends down and in the middle of it are the nostrils, from them and to the tip it is a light green color in front of a pale yellow tint; her eyes are small and as if diamonds round and rowling (?); Her apparel consists of downdoor feathers, on the tail three tricks, short and disproportionate. Her legs should be the body, sharp claws. It has a strong appetite and voracious. Can digest stones and iron, whose description is better perceived from its image ... "

"... I saw the birds in Mauritius a larger swan, without feathers on a body, which is covered with a black fortune; The back of the round, Ogusok is decorated with curly feathers, the number of which increases with age. Instead of wings, they feathers are the same as the previous ones: black and curved. They have no languages, the beak is big and slightly bent down; Legs are long, scaly, with three fingers on each paw. Creek is like a passage, but it does not at all mean a pleasant taste like Flamingo and ducks, which we just talked about. In the masonry, they have one egg, white, size with a bunch of 1 su, the stone is applied to it with a chicken egg. Put off on the grass, which is collected, and the nests are built in the forest; If you kill the chick, in the belly you can find a gray stone. We call them "Nazaretian birds." Their fat is a wonderful means to relieve in muscles and nerves ... "

In general, the message of Francois Kosha causes some doubts, since in addition to everything in it, it is said that the "Nazaretian bird" has three fingers on the leg and there is no language that does not correspond to the anatomy of the Mauritius Dreams. This led to the erroneous conclusion that the traveler described a different kind of kind, which later appropriated the name "Didus Nazarenus". However, most likely, he confused his information with the data on the poorly studied at the same time, besides, in his notes there are other contradictory approved.

As for the origin of the concept of "Nazareth Bird", the Russian scientist Joseph Khamel in 1848 explained him by the fact that this Frenchman probably heard the translation of the original name "Walghvogel" (Oiseaudenausée - "Nauseous Bird"), the word "nausée" (nausea ) Sitna with the geographical point "Nazaret", indicated on the maps of those years near Mauritius.

The mention of the "young ostrich", taken on board the ship in 1617, is the only message about the possibly young dog Dodo.

Dodo's head drawing, made by Cornelis Saflene in 1638 - the last original image of the bird

It is known about twenty images of Dodo XVII century, drawn from living representatives or stuffed.

The drawings of different artists have noticeable differences in detail, such as coloring beak, the shape of the tail feathers and the total color. Some specialists, such as Anton Cornelius Audimans and Masudzi Khatisuk, put forward a number of versions that individuals could be depicted in the paintings, age or at different periods of the year.

Finally, there were assumptions about different types, but none of these theories found confirmations. To date, on the basis of the drawings, it is impossible to say it is definitely as far as they reflected reality.

British paleontologist, Drontam Specialist Julian Hume argues that the nostrils of living Dodo were supposed to be slightly, as shown in sketches from Helderland, as well as on the pictures of Cornelis Saflevna, Mansur and the works of an unknown artist from the collection of the Crocker Museum. According to Hume, widely disclosed nostrils, which often can be seen in the picturesque works, indicate that they were used as a nature, and not living birds.

Ship magazine from the Dutch ship "Gelderland" (1601-1603), found in archives in the 1860s, contains single sketches, reliably created on Mauritius with living or recently killed individuals. They drew up two artists, one of which, more professional, could call Joris Joostensz Laerle. Based on what material, living birds or stuffed, follow-up images were created, today it is not possible to find out that it harms their reliability.

The classic image of the Dodo is a very thick and clumsy bird, but this point of view is probably exaggerated. The generally accepted opinion of scientists is reduced to the fact that many old European images were obtained from birds crowned in captain or rudely stuffed stuffed.

The Dutch painter Rusten Savere was the most prolific and influential artist, from among those portrayed Dreams. He drew at least ten paintings.

His famous work of 1626, now famous called "Dodo Edwards" (now in the collection of the Museum of Natural Science in London). She became a typical image of Dronta and served as a primary source for many others, despite the fact that it shows an overly fastening bird.

There is almost nothing about Dodo hawves due to the scarcity of information. Studies of the bones of the hind limbs show that the bird could quickly run. Since the Mauritian DRONT was a flashing bird, and on the island there were no predatory mammals and other enemies, he probably nest on Earth.

Dodo habitats preferences are unknown, but old reports claim that these birds inhabited forests in more dry coastal areas in the south and west of Mauritius. This opinion is supported by the fact that Mar-O-Suga swamp, which found most Dodo's remains, is located near the sea, in the southeastern part of the island. Such a limited area could make a significant contribution to the extinction of the species.

On the map of 1601 from the side magazine of the ship "Gelderland" off the coast of Mauritius, a small island is visible, where Dreams were caught. Julian Hume suggested that this island was in Tamarin Bay, on the west coast of Mauritius. The remains of birds found in the caves of mountain areas prove that the birds met and on the elevation.

Three Dodo sketch from the Museum of Art Crocker, made by the saver in 1626

".... These burgomistra are majestic and proud. They appeared before us, adamant and decisive, with widely opened beaks. Wild and bold when walking, they barely ordered us to meet us. Weapons served as the beaks that they could bite cruelly; They were fed by fruit; They did not have a good fusion, but the fat was enough with an excess. Many of them, to our general joy, were taken aboard ... ".

In addition to fallen fruits, Dodo, probably fed on nuts, seeds, bulbs and roots. The Netherlands Zoologist Anton Cornelius Odemans suggested that since the Mauritius seasons were marked and rainy, Dodo, apparently, at the end of the wet season fell fat, feeding ripe fruits to survive the dry time of the year when there was little food. Contemporaries described the "greedy" poultry appetite.

Some pioneers considered the meat of Dreams tasteless and preferred to have parrots or pigeons, others described it as hard, but good. Some hunted on Dodo only for the sake of the stomachs, which were considered the most talleled part of the bird. Dreams were very easy to catch, but the hunters followed their powerful beaks.

Dronts became interested in the living individuals began to be taken to Europe and east.

The number of birds that have come to destination destination is unknown, and it is unclear how they relate to the pictures of those years and a number of exhibits in European museums.

Description Dodo, whom Hamon Lestridge saw in London in 1638, is the only mention in which directly refers to a live copy in Europe.

In 1626, Adrian Van de Venna drew Dream, who, according to his statement, he saw in Amsterdam, but did not say a word, whether he was alive. Two living individuals saw Peter Mandy in susta between 1628 and 1634.

The drawing of an individual who was in the Prague collection of Emperor Rudolph II. Picture Author - Jacob Huftnagel

Dodo drawing made by Adrian Van de Venne in 1626

The presence of solid stuffed drone indicates that the birds were brought to Europe alive and there later they later died; It is unlikely that the taxidermists who went to the Mauritii ships were, and the alcohol for the conservation of biological exhibits has not yet been used.

Most tropical exhibits have been preserved in the form of dried heads and legs. Based on the aggregate of the stories of contemporaries, paintings and scarecrow, Julian Hume concluded that at least eleven exported Dreams were delivered alive to the end destinations.

Like many other animals that developed in isolation from serious predators, Dreams were not afraid of people at all. This lack of fear and inability to fly made bird with easy prey for sailors. Although individual messages were described by the massive slaughter Dodo for the sake of replenishing ship supplies, archaeological studies did not find weighty evidence of the predation of people.

The bones of at least two Dodo were found in the caves at Cape Bae-du-Cap (Baieducap), which in the XVII century served as a refuge for Marians and runaway convicts, and were not easily accessible for drone due to mountainous, crossed terrain.

The number of people in Mauritius (territory in 1860 km²) in the XVII century never exceeded 50 people, but they brought other animals, including dogs, pigs, cats, rats and macabouledov, who ruined the slope Dontov and competed for limited food resources.

At the same time, people destroyed the forest habitat Dodo. The impact on the size of the type from the driven pigs and the macak is currently considered more significant and significant than from hunting. Rats, perhaps, were not so much threat to the nest, as Drona was accustomed to dealing with local earth crabs.

It is assumed that by the time of the arrival of people on Mauritius Dodo was already rare or had a limited range, since he would hardly be extinct so quickly, if he had been held all the remote areas of the island.

There are disagreements around the date of disappearance of Dodo. The last widespread report on the observation of DRONTs is the report from the sailor of Volkert Everts from the victim of the shipwreck of the Dutch ship "Arnham" dated 1662. He described the birds caught on a small island near Mauritius (as expected now, on Amber Island (îled'ambre)):

"... These animals have been drilled at our approach, looking at us, and calmly stayed on the spot, as if they were not good, if they had wings to fly, or legs to escape, and allowing us to get closer to them as close as we were Want. Among these birds were those in India, DOD-AERERN (this is a kind of very large geese); These birds do not know how to fly, instead of the wings they just have small processes, but they can run very quickly. We drove them all in one place so that you could catch them with your hands, and when they grabbed one of them for the leg, she raised such noise that she was immediately fled to the revenue all the others and in the end themselves were also replaced ... "

The last declared observation of Dodo was reflected in the hunting notes of the Governor of Mauritius Isaac Johannes Lamotius in 1688, which gives a new approximate date of disappearance Dodo - 1693.

Although the rarity Dodo was reported already in the XVII century, his disappearance was not recognized until the XIX century. Partly for religious reasons, since the extinction was considered impossible (while the opposite did not prove George Cuvier), and partly due to the fact that many scientists doubted that Dronet had ever existed. In general, he seemed too strange creature, so many have believed that he is a myth. In addition, the probability was taken into account that the DRONTs could continue on other, even unexplored Islands of the Indian Ocean, while there were poorly studied extensive territories of both Madagascar and mainland Africa. For the first time, this bird as an example of extinction due to human activity was brought in 1833 the British magazine "The Penny Magazine".

The only preserved dodo remains from among individuals delivered to Europe in the XVII century are:

• dried head and paw in the Natural History Museum of Oxford University;
• the paw stored in the British Museum is now lost;
• skull in the Copenhagen Zoological Museum;
• upper jaw and bones of legs in the National Museum of Prague.

Skeleton, composed by Richard Owen from the bones found in the Mar-O-Sug

26 Museums around the world have significant funds of biological materials Dodo, almost all of which are found in Mar-O-Sang. In the London Museum of Natural Science, the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Cambridge Zoology Museum, Zenkenberg Museum, Darwinian Museum in Moscow and a number of others there are almost complete skeletons made up of individual bones.

The skeleton in the Darwinian Museum was previously located in the collection of the Russian Connector, Comrade Chairman of the Bureau of the Ornithology Department of the Imperial Russian Society Acclimization of Animal and Plants and a Valid Member of the Russian Ornithological Committee A. S. Khomyakova, nationalized in 1920.

Imaginary "White Dodo" From Reunion Island (or Reunon Dream Helf) is currently considered an erroneous guappy, which was based on reports of contemporaries about the Reunion Ibis and on the pictures known in the XIX century similar to the drones of white birds made in the XVII century Peter Vitos and Peter Holtene.

The confusion began when the Dutch captain Bontec, visiting Reunion around 1619, in his journal mentioned a cargo, unauthorizing bird called Dod-Eersen, however, without writing nothing about her color.

When in 1646 this ship magazine was published, he was accompanied by a copy of the sketch of the sautery from the art gallery Crocker. White, dense and fluttering bird was first mentioned as part of the Reunion fauna with a senior Tatton officer in 1625. Single mentions were subsequently made by the French Traveler Dubois and other contemporary authors.

In 1848, the Baron Michel-Edmond de Seli-Longshan gave these birds the Latin name Raphus Solitarius, as he believed that there was a new form in those reports. When images of the XIX century were found by the images of the White Dodo related to the XVII century, the conclusion was concluded that it was this species that was imprinted. Anton Cornelius Audimans suggested that the reason for the inconsistency between the drawings and the old descriptions lies in the sexual dimorphism (the patterns were allegedly depicted in the pictures). Some authors believed that the described birds treated the form similar to Rodriguese drone-hermit. It came to the hypotheses that white individuals lived on the island of Reunion as dodo and donont-hermit.

White dodo. Patter Holstein Figure. Mid XVII century

Illustration of the XVII century sold at the "Christis" auction

In 2009, an unpublished earlier Dutch illustration of Dodo White-gray color, created in the XVII century, was exhibited at the Auction "Christies". It was planned to rescue 6000 £ for her, and in the end she went over 44,450 £. Was this illustration was sketched with stuffed or with earlier images, left unknown.

The unusual appearance of Dodo and its significance as one of the most famous extinct animals have repeatedly attracted writers and mass culture figures.

So in English, the expression "Dead As A Dodo" (Dead as DRONT), which is used to designate something obsolete, as well as the word "dodoism" (something extremely conservative and reaction).

Similarly, the phraseological "TogotHewayoftHedodo" (go along the path of Dream) has the following meanings: "die" or "outrage", "exit of general use or practice", or "to become part of the past".

Alice and Dodo. Illustration of J. Tena to Lewis Carolla's fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland"

In 1865, at the same time, when George Clark began publishing messages about the excavations of Dodo's remains, a bird whose reality was just proven, appeared as a character in the Lewis Carroll's fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland." It is believed that the author inserted Dodo to the book, identifying himself with him and taking this name as a personal alias, due to stuttering, because of whom he real surname involuntarily pronounced as "before-Dodzhson". The popularity of the book has done a widely known extinction symbol.

Coat of arms Mauritia

Nowadays, Dodo is used as an emblem on many types of products, especially in Mauritius. DRONT is presented on the coat of arms of this country as a shield holder. In addition, the image of his head is manifested in the watermarks of the banknote of the Mauritius Rupee of all merits.

To attract attention to the protection of endangered species, the Dodo image uses many environmental organizations, such as Darrell Wildlife Protection Fund and Darrell Wildlife Park.

DRONT has become a symbol of the destruction of species as a result of a careless or barbaric invasion from the outside in the current ecosystem.

A.A. KazDym

List of used literature

Akimushkin I.I. "Dead, like DRONT" // The world of animals: birds. Fish, amphibians and reptiles. M.: Thought, 1995

Galushin V.M., Drozdov N.N., Ilyichev V.D., Konstantinov V.M., Kurochkin E.N., Polozov S.A., Potapov R.L, Flint V.E., Fomin V.E. . Fauna of the world: Birds: Directory M.: Agropromizdat, 1991

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Dodo Skeleton Find in Mauritius

Poultryodo: POSEMMETHIDO

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