Original Entry Dodos written by Ant

An incredibly stupid bird that actually thought humans were quite nice, even while being smashed over the head with a large stick and then eaten. Now extinct and consequently famous because of the saying "as dead as a Dodo". Although the Dodo would probably prefer to be less famous and more alive.

Subedited by U27280

Image artwork by ( the dates )unknown

Categorisation ( the other snippet of information ) by unknown

This is a nice description of the common knowledge about the Dodo. You will have to find out by the classification above the entry that Mauritius has something to do with it. The drawing shows the date of extincion.

As little is known about the bird as much has been written about them. They were remarkable, their appearance was enough to impress the sailors who found them as early as 1505. The birds where captured and toured Europe as freaks. One Dodo visited the Netherlands in 1626 and another England in 1638. They amazed the public by eating rocks and iron. Both birds never returned from their holidays. One has his head on display in the Oxford museum and the other, after being framed as a dotty bird, has been eaten.

Team Dodo on stage

The London bird is probably the one being prepared and stuffed in the Oxford museum. The Oxford Museum of Natural History has a foot and a head, though the head is not in display. A scandinavian Museum has a head too, this is not the missing head from Oxford, even while it was rediscovered in the storage department only recently. There are eggs from wich is suggested they are Dodo eggs. The American Museum of Natural History claims to have a complete skeleton from one bird. American researchrs made a forensic replica of the bird. Excavations in the swamps of Mautritius have revealed many bird bones, probably from Dodos. Several other Musea also have complete skeletons, made of the collected bones.

Literature

As the birds are extinct they will only show up in fantasy stories, such as 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by 'Lewis Carol'. Alice sees the bird as she is coming out of her tear lake. Later on they have the Caucus-Race to dry by heating up. In the end Alice has to give everybody a prize as the Dodo told her to.

The concept of cloning is many times used in science fiction, like

One of the companions of 'Doctor Who' was called Dodo, vaguely creating an anachronism.

So many names

It is as if anyone who had seen the bird alive did give it a name.

Posing for show

Early drawings from the Dodo made by artists visiting Mauritius show a firm upright animal. Later live paintings made in Europe show more obese birds. The bird images really took a flight after 'John Tenniel's drawing in 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. Many artists adopted the cuddly bird and showed them brighter then before. Bright Dodo also starred in several Alice Movies. We are still looking for the animated Dodo smiley.

Penguins on Mauritius and Dodos on Antarctica

The early drawings were replicated and published in exotic animal books. A small error in the settings swapped the pictures of Pinguins and Dodos. Successive publications even reused the images, showing Pinguins under the palmtrees of Mauritius.

Comic performances

Use and puns of the phrase 'Dead as a Dodo' are common acts by comic artists, whether on stage or in book. This also created the myth the flesh did not taste bad at all.

They play a tune

Several song lyrics include the dodo sometimes just to rhyme but mainly to express the fate of extinction. There is even a band DODO

Musicians often exchange doded messages, this goes in the form of: dododododo dodo dododododo dodo dodododododo dodo dododododo.

This Dodo Cuddles

As from the first publication of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' on the grandmothers made cute little cuddly Dodos. Modern day cuddly Dodos come in dozens of colours and shapes to the toy shops, playing 'pick me' for a living.

Adopt One

The major industry on Mauritius has a huge part of the profit by creating Dodo artifacts. This does not mean that there was any artist among the Dodos. The multicultural population on the islands lives from the tourists and producing souvenirs. All kinds of Dodos are available from wooden birds to blown glas models, as well as the whole range of cuddly toys.

McDodo replicate

Plans are to investigate the possibility to create Dodo meat out of DNA cloning projects. This would lead to an economic exploitation that ever seemed succesful.

Dodo's Ark

Everyone knows the Dodos are friendly and social animals. Their only wish was to stay together, and so they did. They left on a raft in the middle of the dark winter night in 1616. Crossing the big ocean to the land of make believe. Some remained on Mauritius as they still believed in the good of men.