The first exhibition on 'The World of the Dodo'
The first exhibition on 'The World of the Dodo'
On Friday March 14th 2008, Mr Mahendra Gowressoo, Minister of Arts and Culture of Mauritius, opened the first exhibition on The World of the Dodo in the Natural History Museum at Port Louis, Mauritius. This permanent exhibition features recently discovered bones of the dodo, film material from the current excavations, and an archive of images concerning the dodo and its related history. Rare specimens of the extinct pigeon Hollandaise and extinct giant tortoises, as well as the famous and unique complete skeleton of the dodo will find their position in a new setting, that will reveal the lost world of the dodo.
The exhibition follows the discovery in October 2005 of a site that included dodo bones and fossils of extinct endemic animals and plants and the subsequent excavations in the Mare aux Songes in 2006 and 2007. The discovery of this mass grave yielded a wealth of dodo bones. It also provided an opportunity to do scientific research into the functioning of island ecosystems before the arrival of man. The mystery of the disappearance of the dodo still fascinates scientists around the world to this day. As the discovery was covered by the press world wide, Mauritius and its ancient liaison with Holland came into new light again. For this reason the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) was asked to help realise the exhibition, in cooperation with the Mauritius Museum Council, Dutch natural history museum Naturalis, and institutes part of the Dodo Research Programme.
Icon of extinction
As the dodo is an icon of extinction, the exhibition will, in a broader sense, illustrate the importance of sustainability and highlight themes such as biodiversity, climate change, and conservation of threatened animal species. The ultimate objective is to contribute to the management and protection of currently threatened natural areas in Mauritius and elsewhere.
Dodo Trail
The permanent dodo display in the Natural History Museum in Port Louis is a pilot project. The exhibition intends to expand, taking into account new information as it materialises, for example, DNA from dodo bones. In the future, it is hoped that the exhibition will be part of a proposed dodo trail, which leads from the Natural History Museum, Port Louis, to a Dodo Museum (or visitor centre) at the Mare aux Songes and other hot spots, like Vieux Grand Port, where the Dutch first landed. This would provide an ideal basis for the development of public and educational programmes for schools, local residents and tourists.
The Dodo Research Programme
The Dodo Research Programme is a Mauritian-Dutch research initiative that was initiated after the discovery of a dodo mass grave in 2005. This international research initiative aims at reconstructing the world of the dodo, and to determine the factors which led up to its extinction. Apart from this the Dodo Research Programme aims to popularise its scientific findings in exhibitions in collaboration with European and Mauritius museums.
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