Despite the inherent appeal of a name that meant “inept Dodo,” the Dodo officially became Raphus cucullatus because of prior naming rules.ĭid you know? The history of the name gives clues to possible close relatives of the Dodo. In 1766, the Dodo was renamed once again to Didus ineptus in the 12th edition of Systema Naturae. In 1758 the Dodo was renamed as Struthio cucullatus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae by Linneaus Struthio is Latin for "ostrich." Two years later, in 1760, the genus was renamed again to Raphus cucullatus by Mathurin Jacques Brisson, most likely in reference to the name Raphos used to describe "the bustard," by Greek physician Galenus. The use of the genus, Cygnus, presumably reflects Nieremberg’s idea that the Dodo was related to swans. Cucullatus means "hooded," and was used in reference to the drawing of the Dodo by the Dutch botanist Carolus Clusius. The first official name given to the unique bird was Cygnus cucullatus by Juan Eusebio Nieremberg in 1635. The Dodo’s scientific name has changed several times as ideas of its evolutionary relationships have shifted. Today, the Dodo’s scientific name is referred to as Raphus cucullatus, but this was not always the case. Image of a Dodo by Carolus Clusius, based on eyewitness sketches by Dutch seamen on Admiral van Neck’s voyage, in Atrebatis Exoticorum libri dedcem, a survey of ‘exotic’ animals and plants, published in 1605. Eyewitness accounts from Admiral Van Neck’s voyage, 1600–1601 "We called these birds Walghvogels partly because although we stewed them for a long time, they were very tough to eat.” Seventeenth-century observers commented on its diet of seeds, fruit, and probably tree roots. With no natural predators, the Dodo’s ancestors lost their ability to fly, adopted a ground-nesting habit, and became larger. ![]() One hundred years after its discovery the Dodo had vanished making it the first documented case of extinction caused solely by human interference.īecause Mauritius is a volcanic island and was never attached to the mainland, it had no mammals other than bats that had flown there. Many of the animals there were found nowhere else in the world, including a large flightless bird that would eventually be called the Dodo. ![]() In 1598, when a Dutch ship arrived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, its sailors found a paradise clothed in a dense forest of ebony and bamboo and filled with bewildering wildlife. ![]() The Dodo can be seen at the bottom right of this somewhat fanciful scene. “Landscape with Birds” (1628) by Roelandt Savery. François Cauche, 1651 (visited Mauritius 1638) “His call is like that of a gosling…They lay one egg white, as large as a penny bun…on a nest of grass, which they collect, they make their nest in the woods….”
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