Dodo Bird Skeleton Replica

$3,537.00

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. The dodo’s closest relative was the also-extinct and flightless Rodrigues solitaire.

Description

Dodo Bird Skeleton Replica Height 27 inches. Dodo Bird Skeleton Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Original cast from a Royal Ontario Museum Specimen. Our precise skeleton can be used as a teaching tool, museum skeleton exhibit, home décor skeleton, or office décor skeleton. Made in USA. Skeleton is mounted. Call for shipping quote: 509-951-3557.

The Dodo bird or Raphus cucullatus is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Many of the skeletal features that distinguish the dodo bird and the Rodrigues solitaire, its closest relative, from pigeons have been attributed to their flightlessness. The pelvic elements were thicker to support the higher weight.

The skull, trunk and pelvic limbs were peramorphic, meaning that they changed considerably with age. The Dodo bird or Raphus cucullatus shared several other traits with the Rodrigues solitaire, such as features of the pelvis, and sternum, as well as their large size.

It differed in other aspects, such as being more robust and shorter than the solitaire, having a larger skull and beak, a rounded skull roof, and smaller orbits.

The dodo neck and legs were proportionally shorter, and it did not possess an equivalent to the knob present on the solitaire’s wrists.

The skull of the dodo bird or Raphus cucullatus differed much from those of other pigeons, especially in being more robust, the bill having a hooked tip, and in having a short cranium compared to the jaws.

The upper bill was nearly twice as long as the cranium, which was short compared to those of its closest pigeon relatives. The openings of the bony nostrils were elongated along the length of the beak, and they contained no bony septum.

The Dodo bird or Raphus cucullatus cranium was wider than it was long, and the frontal bone formed a dome shape, with the highest point above the hind part of the eye sockets.

The head sloped downwards at the back. The eye sockets occupied much of the hind part of the skull. The sclerotic rings inside the eye were formed by eleven small bones.

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Additional information

Weight 25 lbs
Dimensions 27 in
Dodo Bird Facts

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Subfamily: †Raphinae
Genus: †Raphus
Species: †R. cucullatus
Binomial name:
†Raphus cucullatus
Conservation Status: Extinct