The first recorded mention of the dodo was by Dutch sailors in 1598. Though the dodo has historically been portrayed as being fat and clumsy, it is now thought to have been well-adapted for its ecosystem. It is presumed that the dodo became flightless because of the ready availability of abundant food sources and a relative absence of predators on Mauritius. One account states its clutch consisted of a single egg. It used gizzard stones to help digest its food, which is thought to have included fruits, and its main habitat is believed to have been the woods in the drier coastal areas of Mauritius. It has been depicted with brownish-grey plumage, yellow feet, a tuft of tail feathers, a grey, naked head, and a black, yellow, and green beak. Since these portraits vary considerably, and since only some of the illustrations are known to have been drawn from live specimens, the dodos' exact appearance in life remains unresolved, and little is known about its behaviour.
The dodo's appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings, paintings, and written accounts from the 17th century. Subfossil remains show the dodo was about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) tall and may have weighed 10.6–17.5 kg (23–39 lb) in the wild. A white dodo was once thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion, but it is now believed that this assumption was merely confusion based on the also-extinct Réunion ibis and paintings of white dodos. The closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon. The two formed the subfamily Raphinae, a clade of extinct flightless birds that were a part of the family which includes pigeons and doves.
The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire. Poiret, E.M.The dodo ( Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. FriesĬhapter XIV: Alexander Keyserling, Hermann Schaafhausen, and Henri LecoqĬhapter XIII: D.A. d'Alton, and Lorenz OkenĬhapter XIII: D.A. Richard Owen, Part II: Owen After the OriginĬhapter X: Isidore Geoffroy Saint-HilaireĬhapter XI: Herbert Spencer and Charles Victor NaudinĬhapter XII: Heinrich Bronn, Franz Unger, J.W.E. d'Omalius d'Halloy, and Henry FrekeĬhapter VIII: Richard Owen, Part I: Owen Before the Origin and his 1860 ReviewĬhapter IX. Wells and William HerbertĬhapter V: Robert Grant and Patrick MatthewĬhapter VI: Leopold von Buch, C.S Rafinesque, and Samuel HaldemanĬhapter VII: Robert Chambers, J.B.J. Lamarck, Erasmus Darwin, Goethe, Etienne Geoffroy Saint-HilaireĬhapter IV: W.C. Authors to be "passed over": Buffon, Maillet, AristotleĬhapter III: Early Transmutationists: J.B. WallaceĬhapter II: Darwin's Earliest Sources. The Preface to Darwin's Origin of Species : The Curious History of the "Historical Sketch"Ĭhapter I: Darwin's "Priority": Baden Powell and A.R. Johnson conveys the pressure Darwin felt from friends and other correspondents to showcase the originality of his theory, and he tackles questions of originality by carefully examining the 35 authors Darwin referenced in this monumental text. How did it evolve in Darwin's mind? Why did he write it at all? What did he think he was accomplishing by prefacing it to Origin of Species? Curtis Johnson approaches these questions, offering some clarity on the originality of Darwin's work.ĭarwin's "Historical Sketch" is the first comprehensive study of Darwin's "Preface" to Origin of Species. Some things are known about its production, such as when it first appeared and what changes were made to it between its first appearance in 1860 and its final form in 1866. His "Historical Sketch" was written as an attempt to address these issues. As such, he was able to claim originality and priority for the idea that has transformed our understanding of nature. While some previous thinkers anticipated portions of Darwin's theory long before he did, none of them saw the complete picture as clearly as Darwin. The "Historical Sketch" provides a brief history of opinion about the species question as a prelude to Darwin's own independent contribution to the subject, but its provenance is somewhat obscure. Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Global Public HealthĬharles Darwin's "Historical Sketch" has appeared as a preface to nearly every authorized edition of Darwin's Origin of Species since the second English edition was published in 1860.
#Darwin bird sketch series#
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