Armed with 3-D
scanning technology, one researcher is out to reinvent our perception of a
long-extinct bird.
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The Dodo specimen housed at the Durban Natural
Science Museum is one of only two complete
skeletons known to scientists.
Photo: Durban Natural Science Museum
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According to the
dictionary, a “dodo” is either a dull-witted, slow-reacting person, or a clumsy,
extinct bird—and the first definition rose out of the second. But to Leon
Claessens, a Dutch paleontologist at the College of the Holy Cross in
Massachusetts, the Dodo is “a very complex, dynamic animal,” that deserves
a little more respect—and maybe a better PR agent.
Evidence found by
Claessens and his team may just be enough to shatter the stereotype. The
researchers spent the past five years examining every inch of the only two
complete Dodo skeletons known to scientists. By studying the way the muscles
and tendons attached to the bird’s bones, they’ve realized that the
3-foot-tall, 40-pound avian was much more sleekly proportioned and graceful
than previously imagined. They also discovered kneecaps on the birds, which
could mean it had better mobility on the ground.
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