The Dodo Blog

Minaggio 76 – Although the bird is tentatively labelled Dodo? on the picture, this more likely represents a bustard being hunted by a mounted oriental gentleman with a scimitar. From Il Bestiario Barocco – Feather Book: Made in 1618 by Dionisio Minaggio, Chief Gardener of the State of Milan, the Feather Book consists of 157 collages of birds, hunters, tradesmen, musicians and Commedia del’Arte figures.

The 112 birds consist of the feathers, beaks and claws laid down in true-to-life fashion. The majority of the birds depicted were native to Lombardy although some are no longer common there. One of the birds is identified as being a representation of a Dodo – and indeed a web site on the dodo seems to accept this attribution without question. However, the bird is not particularly well drawn, uses Lombardy bird feathers rather than ones from an actual Dodo and is obviously copied from either a drawing or a description. I suspect it is done from an illustration because the costume and weapon of the Arabian hunter is so accurately depicted. Various other ornithologists who have seen the original have declared the bird to be either a Reunion Solitaire, which is at least a close relative of the Dodo, or a Great Bustard.

More about it at The Feather Book of Dionisio Minaggio. (Thanks Jaime!)

What kind of dodo blog is this without images of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? Let’s fix this. Here are some dodo illustrations:

By Lewis Carroll from Alice’s Adventures under Ground, the original Alice.

From the 1907 version, illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

Both images by Sir John Tenniel, available at Project Gutenberg. The complete of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is available too in the same site. Or try The University of Adelaide Library page with an on-line version, with images and versions to download.

From the Disney film version. More images of it at Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site.

By Maraja, from Alice’s House of Cards.

More images of Alice’s Dodo soon. Until there check also this very short article Dodo (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland).

More proves that I’m not having hallucinations about the popularity of dodos: Dodos in popular culture – The Dodo’s significance as one of the best-known extinct animals and its singular appearance has led to its widespread use in literature and popular culture. The article has some examples of dodos in literature, comics, movies, television, music and games. I’m going try to find all those stuff later. Below, two covers of Dodos are forever by Dick King Smith

Update: unfortunatly the article “Dodos in popular culture” was removed from Wikipedia. I should had made a copy of it.