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Subject: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Mon, Jul 13 2009, 8:48pm 
A previously undiscovered 17th century picture of a dodo, drawn before the bird became extinct, is to be sold at auction by Christie’s.

Wonder how much it went for? £6k was quoted.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: tonyc posted Tue, Jul 14 2009, 2:13am 
Waaaaayyyy off, £44,450!

Sale results.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Tue, Jul 14 2009, 2:35am 
Wow. Thanks for that. And by an unknown artist. Wonder who bought it?

Did you see this bit of info in the lot description?

The present drawing is unusual, however, in the lightness of the plumage. It has some similarities to the colouring of the bird shown in a watercolour by Pieter Holsteyn (Teylers Museum, Haarlem), dating from the 1630s. Traditionally called the White Dodo of Réunion, the bird in the Teylers drawing is now thought to show an albino specimen (Fuller, op. cit., p. 170), which may also be the case in the present drawing.

An albino dodo. Even cooler.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: badger man posted Tue, Jul 14 2009, 5:18am 
Or who knows it could just be a "blond" dodo.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: MikeK posted Tue, Jul 14 2009, 9:19pm 
Britney Spears was a cryptid ?
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: kybrowncoat posted Fri, Jul 31 2009, 3:56am 
I wish.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Kronosaurus posted Sat, Aug 22 2009, 5:36pm 
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! ROTFLMFAO!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Vila posted Mon, Sep 14 2009, 6:16pm 
We all know Britney's natural color is "bald"....
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: BillB posted Wed, Jul 15 2009, 3:21am 
Stu, by the subject line, I thought you were telling a Republican joke.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Wed, Jul 15 2009, 5:14pm 
You sarcastic old liberal you.

And mindreader - I was very, very tempted to put an adjunct in regarding Stpalin :~)
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: BillB posted Wed, Jul 15 2009, 10:59pm 
;)
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 4:35am 
And no, that's not St. Palin. It's just harder to pronounce. Like Polish after 12 Sliwowices (or however one spells it).
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 6:20pm 
(Savagely bursts in)
NOBODY EXPECTS THE SP. . .
Oh, well, you get the idea.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 5:51am 
I wonder if Errol Fuller knew of this pic. I've got the book "DODO: A Brief History," and in it he extols the virtues of a small watercolor sketch of what is believed to be the head of a live dodo, done by one Ernst Saftleven. However, the difference in plumage and the fluffiness(?) of the headfeathers makes me wonder if Saftleven actually sketched a juvenile. Any thoughts?
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 5:53am 
Oops, I meant the top pic, not the one I posted.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 5:58am 
Well, dodos had subspecies, but yes, might be a juvenile. Very good point. Just a shame we'll never know for sure, but I'm sure that, right now, there are techno-savvy people out there trying to prove that very thing. It's all good fun. Thanks for the input, & that's a fine sketch I have to say (as an utterly inept artist myself).
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 6:15pm 
I accept your thanks on behalf of Mynheer Saftleven, who drew this sketch about the same time as the newly-discovered piece. ;-)
I'm not sure if Dodos had subspecies, since the species as we know it was only known from Mauritius Island. There was at least one other flightless bird (perhaps two) on other islands:

The Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) from Rodrigues Island, and a still-unknown species from Reunion, which could very likely be the source of the "white dodo" reports from that area. There has been fossil evidence which indicates a flightless (or nearly flightless) species of ibis closely related to the Nile ibis once lived on Reunion.

Actually, there are two species of (still-living) birds which have been genetically proven to be very closely related to the dodo:

The Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas Nicobarica)
and the Victoria Crowned Pigeon (Goura Victoria).

I have seen both of these species at the National Zoo in DC, and I must tell you, they are both HUUUGE!! I swear the Zoo's Victoria Crowned has got to be larger than a domestic turkey. And if the Dodo was even bigger, Holy Mackerel, what a bird! I have a dodo skull (courtesy of Lauer's) in my collection, and its braincase alone is larger than the entire head of any of my cats! So much for calling them "birdbrains," I guess. That beak would make me think twice about taking a dodo on in fisticuffs, believe, me.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 6:35pm 
With this image, one may get a good idea of how the "white dodo" story got started.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 6:42pm 
Bones to Bronze
Here's a link to a FANTASTIC pdf about some reconstruction work done for some of the extinct species of Mauritius. Enjoy!
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 6:49pm 
Thanks G. All good stuff. Yep, it was a close relative of pigeons. Will read the PDF in between bouts of yarking caused by painkillers. might be extinct myself soon :~)
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: luna1580 posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 8:17pm 
what happened to you?

i'll hope you don't go extinct in the near future (as i don't pray...)
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Thu, Jul 16 2009, 8:33pm 
Neck injury (torticollis), necessitating use of various hardcore painkillers, some of which are having the unfortunate side effect of getting rid of my appetite (I usually eat like Przewalski's Horse), & others are sometimes making me sick when I DO eat. For nearly two weeks, 99% of my time's been spent in the flat, & while I love reading almost as much as life itself, there's only so much reading one can do before wanting to get out, & I'm usually fairly active. For instance, in my job I travel on average about 25-30 miles a day, & about 3-5 of those are spent walking (I don't drive). So this inaction's getting a bit much (& probably also partly responsible for the loss of appetite). Thanks for your concern. When I read accounts such as Jerry Coleman's, it really puts things in perspective.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: luna1580 posted Fri, Jul 17 2009, 9:59am 
agreed, jerry's trials with cancer make a "pain in the neck" vastly recede in long-term importance.

still, did you have some trauma or infection leading to the condition? wednesday morning i woke up with a neck and upper shoulder pain that made me grab for (nonprescription) pain pills, and all i did was sleep on it "wrong" being in a new bed-n-pillow set whilst moving. the phrase "pain in the neck" came into being because it was a memorable pain.....

i hope you're well soon :)
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Stu posted Fri, Jul 17 2009, 9:04pm 
No, this is recurring, making me think it's more. But you're right, torticollis can come about because of the situation you described.

Will be insisting on x-rays & have already had blood samples taken. It can be genetic.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Fri, Jul 17 2009, 2:10am 
Whoops! CORNELIUS Saftleven, not Ernst. My bad.
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Wed, Jul 22 2009, 6:45am 
Wow! Long time, no activity.
Anyway, I noticed on the OP what looked like a long, red tendril extending from the forehead of the bird down almost to the end of the beak. Any ideas on what this might be?
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Mon, Jul 27 2009, 4:41am 
Moop
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: jtmkryptos posted Tue, Aug 4 2009, 3:43am 
sadly enough thats about the best look a dodo anyone will ever get .....
Subject: Re: Uncovered: 350-year-old picture of dodo before it was extinct
From: Guodzilla posted Wed, Aug 5 2009, 5:06pm 
Well, interestingly enough, if the new drawing WAS from life, then all of our conjectures of dodo appearance weren't very far off the mark after all.


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