Mauritian dodobones of most importance to the world

Press release
Leiden
10 November 2008

For the third year in a row the international dodo-expedition team, in which Naturalis scientists participate, has returned from Mauritius. An enormous amount of material from the dodo-massgrave in Mare aux Songes has been searched to find 54 dodobones belonging to at least two individuals, including very rare small bones likes nails, toebones and wingbones. These bones, some of them less than a millimeter long, make this dodo collection the most important in the world. At least 3000 other bones have been discovered among which the extinct Mauritian goose, extinct giant skink, birds, bats and giant tortoises.