Reconstruction of an extinct bird
After successfully reconstructing what has been dubbed ‘the Maltese dodo’, Arnold Sciberras raises awareness about a lesser known species, the flightless Rodrigues solitaire Following the much appreciated interest of the reconstruction nicknamed ‘the Maltese dodo’, we have decided to reconstruct the much lesser known and closely related Rodrigues solitaire, also known as the Rodrigues dodo. As far as we are aware, this is the world’s first ever physical reconstruction of this species. Although skeletons are found abundantly, only a handful of plausible sketches are found and the most precise work is a skeletal scan and digital reconstruction that was carried out by Martin Rodrigues-Pontes (2014). The Rodrigues solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It is the largest pigeon ever known to exist, following the dodo. Genetically within the family of pigeons and doves, it was most closely related to the also extinct dodo of the nearby island Mauritius, the two forming the subfamily Raphinae. The Nicobar pigeon is their closest living genetic relative. Today, the largest species...