Sunday, June 25, 2006
Dodo skeleton find in Mauritius
"Scientists say they have discovered part of the skeleton of a dodo, the large, flightless bird which became extinct more than 300 years ago.
One of the team in Mauritius said it was the first discovery of fully preserved bones which could give clues as to how the bird lived its life.
Last year, the team unearthed dodo bones in the same area, but said the current find was more 'significant'.
The bird is thought to have been hunted to extinction by European settlers.
No complete skeleton has ever been found in Mauritius, and the last full set of bones was destroyed in a fire at a museum in Oxford, England, in 1755.
'Remarkable'
'It's a wonderful collection,' said Dr Julian Hume, a research associate with London's Natural History Museum and a member of the largely Dutch-Mauritian team."
One of the team in Mauritius said it was the first discovery of fully preserved bones which could give clues as to how the bird lived its life.
Last year, the team unearthed dodo bones in the same area, but said the current find was more 'significant'.
The bird is thought to have been hunted to extinction by European settlers.
No complete skeleton has ever been found in Mauritius, and the last full set of bones was destroyed in a fire at a museum in Oxford, England, in 1755.
'Remarkable'
'It's a wonderful collection,' said Dr Julian Hume, a research associate with London's Natural History Museum and a member of the largely Dutch-Mauritian team."
technorati tags: dodo, mauritius, london, natural+history, museum, flightless
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