EEP Crowned pigeon number 4

EEP STUDBOOK CROWNED PIGEONS PROLOGUE
There is also a skeleton and reconstructed model in the Mauritius Institute Museum in Port
Louis. Also a model of the dodo can be found in the Museum of Natural History in New York.
But despite the regrettable extinction of the innocent dodo, its memory lives on, not only in
Port Louis Museum, but also in a thousand other places on the island. Nowadays the dodo
figures prominently on the national emblem, propping up the arms of Mauritius with a stiff
left leg. It also appears on coins and paper currency, in club-emblems and on T-shirts and is
the subject of countless souvenirs of Mauritius. Giant dodos have been sculpted in wood and
stone. Precious tiny dodos in gold and diamonds have emerged from the jeweller’s table. The
famous modern Mauritian painter Malcom de Chazal has painted dodos, and his motifs are
converted into hand-woven tapestries. Mauritian ladies, instead of knitting booties, make
patch work dodos, stuff them, and sell them as pin-cushions. Dodos rear their pretty heads on
hand-tooled leather goods. Dodos are delicately re-created out of dried cane-leaves. Even the
chefs of our star studded hotels occasionally come down with dodo fever and may be
discovered secretly chiseling away a dodo ice-sculpture, or shaping the rotund backside of a
dodo moulded in butter. Yes indeed, the dodo is dead, but long live the dodo!
The tragedy of the dodo highlights the potential effects mankind can have upon the
environment, and the ease with which humanity can disrupt the delicate balance of an
ecosystem by eradicating a whole species. As one of the earliest examples of modern
ecovandalism, the impact of the Portuguese sailors on Mauritius not only wiped out the
famous dodo, but it disrupted nature further in unexpected ways.
The Mauritian ‘calvaria’ tree, soon after the dodo bird became extinct, stopped sprouting
seeds, and it appeared it would soon face extinction itself. While it was not initially apparent,
the calvaria would only sprout seeds after having been eaten and digested by the dodo bird.
Some scientists disagree on the connection between dodo and calvaria, but others believe that
the dodo played an integral part in the spreading of calvaria seeds. Turkeys have been given
seeds to digest, and it is believed they can perform a similar role.
This story serves to highlight the dangerous implications of animal extinction, and why
humanity must work to safeguard the environment and nature. The bio-diversity of our world
must be protected, both for current and future generations. The dodo was such a unique
species of a bird, that some three centuries later, it still is remembered as a symbol of the
harm mankind can bring to the environment. As the memory of the dodo and the legacy of
ecovandalism lives on, we must not forget to take heed of such a warning - particularly as
more and more species are brought to the point of extinction.
Crowned pigeons can also be easily hunted and could become
“the dodo of the 21st century”.
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