Dodo remains from an in situ context from Mare aux Songes, Mauritius
@article{Meijer2012DodoRF, title={Dodo remains from an in situ context from Mare aux Songes, Mauritius}, author={Hanneke J. M. Meijer and Arike Gill and Perry G. B. de Louw and Lars W. Hoek Ostende and Julian P. Hume and Kenneth F. Rijsdijk}, journal={Naturwissenschaften}, year={2012}, volume={99}, pages={177-184} }
Since 2005, excavations at Mare aux Songes, Mauritius, have revealed the presence of a very rich, ∼4,200-year-old fossil bone bed including dodo (Raphus cucullatus) bones and bone fragments. The recently excavated dodo assemblage comprises at least 17 individuals and is characterised by the presence of small and fragile skeletal elements, a dominance of leg elements and an absence of juveniles. The hydrology of the area suggests that dodos, like many other species, were probably lured to Mare…
14 Citations
A review of the dodo and its ecosystem: insights from a vertebrate concentration Lagerstätte in Mauritius
- Environmental Science
- 2015
This interdisciplinary research approach provides an ecological framework for the dodo, complementing insights on its anatomy derived from the only associated dodo skeletons known, both of which were collected by Etienne Thirioux and are the primary subject of this memoir.
The discovery of a Dodo Raphus cucullatus Linn . ( Aves , Columbiformes ) in a highland Mauritian lava cave
- Geography
- 2016
In September 2006, during a survey of Mauritian caves for cockroaches (Blattodea), a skeleton of a Dodo (Raphus cucullatus Linn. 1758) termed ‘Dodo Fred’ was serendipitously discovered in a highland…
University of Groningen A review of the Dodo and its Ecosystem Rijsdijk,
- Environmental Science
The dodo Raphus cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758, an extinct and flightless, giant pigeon endemic to Mauritius, has fascinated people since its discovery, yet has remained surprisingly poorly known. Until…
Rediscovery of a lost Lagerstätte: a comparative analysis of the historical and recent Mare aux Songes dodo excavations on Mauritius
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2015
The Mare aux Songes (MAS), Mauritius, Mascarene Islands, is best known for the remarkable quality and quantity of macro- and micro-fossil remains, including those of the iconic Dodo Raphus…
Middle-sized murids from Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia): insular endemics, human introductions and palaeoenvironment
- Environmental Science, GeographyPalaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments
- 2015
The Liang Bua Cave has yielded numerous fossils of murids from the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, including giant rats, and it appears that the arrival of Neolithic Man and commensal rats coincides with a period of relative drought.
A synopsis of the pre-human avifauna of the Mascarene Islands
- Environmental Science
- 2013
The isolated Mascarene Islands of Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues are situated in the southwestern Indian Ocean. All are volcanic in origin and have never been connected to each other or any other…
The giant tortoise, Aldabrachelys, and its bearing on the biogeography and dispersal of terrestrial biota in the Western Indian Ocean
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2016
Combining histology, stable isotope analysis and ZooMS collagen fingerprinting to investigate the taphonomic history and dietary behaviour of extinct giant tortoises from the Mare aux Songes deposit on Mauritius
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2014
Mauritius since the last ice age: paleoecology and climate of an oceanic island
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2014
Four centuries of human occupation has left Mauritius with <5% of its original vegetation cover. Consequently, little is known about floral and faunal distribution patterns and long-term ecological…
A deadly cocktail: How a drought around 4200 cal. yr BP caused mass mortality events at the infamous ‘dodo swamp’ in Mauritius
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2015
A direct relation between the mass mortality events in the Mare aux Songes (MAS) rock valley and the 4200 cal. yr BP drought is demonstrated, which ultimately led to mass mortality of larger vertebrates, including two species of giant tortoises and dodos in a <2-ha region.
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 46 REFERENCES
Taphonomy and ecology of modern avifaunal remains from Amboseli Park, Kenya
- Environmental Science, GeographyPaleobiology
- 2003
The taphonomy of a modern avian bone assemblage is examined and the relationship between ecological data based on avifaunal skeletal remains and known ecological attributes of a living bird community is tested to provide a measure of the potential fidelity of paleoecological reconstructions based on small samples of avian remains.
Mid-Holocene vertebrate bone Concentration-Lagerstatte on oceanic island Mauritius provides a window into the ecosystem of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus)
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2009
Relict conifers from the mid-Pleistocene of Rhodes, Greece
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2009
The mid-Pleistocene Kolymbia Flora of Rhodes, Greece occurs in the Lindos Bay Clay facies group of the Rhodes Formation and was deposited in a marine setting at about a depth of 200 m. Recorded in…
A Deposition Mechanism for Holocene Miring Bone Deposits, South Island, New Zealand
- Environmental Science, Geology
- 2008
Localised deposits of Late Pleistocene and Holocene bird bones occur in wetlands throughout New Zealand. These are characterised by dense accumulations of mostly disarticulated bones, with…
Taphonomic and Ecologic Information Form Bone Weathering
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 1978
Bones of recent mammals in the Amboseli Basin, southern Kenya, exhibit distinctive weathering characteristics that can be related to the time since death and to the local conditions of temperature,…
Palaeobiology: Dutch diaries and the demise of the dodo
- Environmental Science, HistoryNature
- 2004
New historical data derived from records of hunting caches are analysed, which confirm that specimens of R. cucullatus were collected regularly for at least 26 years beyond 1662, and a new extinction date is calculated, which differs by only three years from that calculated by Roberts and Solow but which greatly narrows the confidence interval.
Studies of Mascarene Island birds: The fossil record
- Environmental Science
- 1987
The visitors who added notably to early ornithological history were Leguat (1708), on Rodrigues in 1691, Dubois (1674), on Reunion 1671-2, and Van Neck, on Mauritius 1598 or 1599 (see Strickland 1848).
Postnatal ontogeny, population structure, and extinction of the giant moa Dinornis
- BiologyJournal of morphology
- 2005
Analysis of subadult skeletal material from natural swamp sites in the North and South Islands of New Zealand forms the basis for recognition of growth series for each long bone element, characterized by sequential formation of fossulae in the femur and fusion of bones in the tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus.
The Gigantic Land Tortoises of the Mascarene and Galapagos Islands*
- HistoryNature
- 1875
EVER since the foundation of Natural History Collections in Europe, naturalists had their curiosity excited by shells of Tortoises of enormous size that were brought home in vessels coming from…