(Press-News.org) Berlin, Germany (November, 2014) - The dodo is among the most famous extinct creatures, and a poster child for human-caused extinction events. Despite its notoriety, and the fact that the species was alive during recorded human history, little is actually known about how this animal lived, looked, and behaved. A new study of the only known complete skeleton from a single bird takes advantage of modern 3-D laser scanning technology to open a new window into the life of this famous extinct bird. The study was presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Estrel, Berlin.
Leon Claessens, Associate Professor at the College of the Holy Cross, and lead researcher on the study said that, "the 3-D laser surface scans we made of the fragile Thirioux dodo skeletons enable us to reconstruct how the dodo walked, moved and lived to a level of detail that has never been possible before. There are so many outstanding questions about the dodo bird that we can answer with this new knowledge."
A complete dodo skeleton, found by an amateur collector and barber, Etienne Thirioux, on the island of Mauritius between 1899 and 1917, has remained unstudied, even though it is the only complete dodo skeleton from a single individual bird known to exist. All other skeletons are incomplete composites, meaning that they are compiled from more than one individual. In addition, Thirioux constructed a second, partially composite skeleton, which contains many bones that also belong to a single bird. "Being able to examine the skeleton of a single, individual dodo, which is not made up from as many individual birds as there are bones, as is the case in all those other composite skeletons, truly allows us to appreciate the way the dodo looked and see how tall or rotund it really was," said Juilan Hume, of the Natural History Museum UK, a co-author on the study.
The scans were performed on site in Port Louis, Mauritius and Durban, South Africa, and allow examination of the biology of this enigmatic extinct bird in detail for the first time. Using the newest digital tools and techniques, the scans provide an insight into how the flightless dodo may have evolved its giant size, and how it walked and lived in its forest home. According to Kenneth Rijsdijk, of an Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam and a study author, "the skull of the dodo is so large and its beak so robust, that it is easy to understand that the earliest naturalists thought it was related to vultures and other birds of prey, rather than the pigeon family."
Having a complete single individual has allowed study of the dodo's sternum (breastbone) in context. Its size relative to the closely related extinct flightless Rodrigues solitaire, which was known to have used its wings in combat, but lacking a keel on the sternum, unlike flying pigeons and the Rodrigues solitaire indicates that the dodo may have shown less intraspecific antagonistic behavior. Together with new information regarding dodo population structure, derived from the study of disarticulated remains from another locality, the Thirioux dodos open a new window upon an evolutionary experiment in rapid increase in body size and shift in locomotor mode, cut short by human-induced ecosystem destruction.
"The history of the dodo provides an important case study of the effects of human disturbance of the ecosystem, from which there is still much to learn that can inform modern conservation efforts for today's endangered animals," said Claessens.
INFORMATION:
About the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Founded in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the Society now has more than 2,300 members representing professionals, students, artists, preparators, and others interested in VP. It is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, with the object of advancing the science of vertebrate paleontology.
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology website: http://www.vertpaleo.org
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (JVP) is the leading journal of professional vertebrate paleontology and the flagship publication of the Society. It was founded in 1980 by Dr. Jiri Zidek and publishes contributions on all aspects of vertebrate paleontology.
Journal Web site: http://vertpaleo.org/Publications/Journal-of-Vertebrate-Paleontology.aspx
AUTHORS CONTACT INFORMATION:
Prof. Dr. LEON CLAESSENS
Department of Biology
College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, MA
USA
and
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Leiden
The Netherlands
lclaesse@holycross.edu
claessens@post.harvard.edu
+1 508 332 6361
Dr. KENNETH RIJSDIJK
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics
University of Amsterdam
The Netherlands
K.F.Rijsdijk@uva.nl
+31 6 30095006
Dr. HANNEKE MEIJER
Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont
Barcelona
Spain
Hanneke.Meijer@gmail.com
+31 6 14978511
Dr. JULIAN HUME
The Natural History Museum
Tring
UK
j.hume@nhm.ac.uk
+44 (0)7753123222
Dr. ANWAR JANOO
University of Mauritius
Reduit
Mauritius
janooa@gmail.com
New insights into an old bird
2014-11-06
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Complete 9,000-year-old frozen bison mummy found in Siberia
2014-11-06
Berlin, Germany (November, 2014) - Many large charismatic mammals went extinct at the end of the Ice Age (approx 11,000 years ago), including the Steppe bison, Bison priscus. A recent find in Eastern Siberia has uncovered one of these bison, literally, frozen in time.
The most complete frozen mummy of the Steppe bison yet known, dated to 9,300 years before present, was recently uncovered in the Yana-Indigirka Lowland and a necropsy was performed to learn about how this animal lived and died at the end of the Ice Age. The Yukagir bison mummy, as it is named, has a complete ...
MFM specialist provides viewpoint in American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
2014-11-06
There is no doubt that pregnant and breastfeeding women try to do everything they can to ensure a healthy outcome for their baby, including eating a healthy, well-balanced diet that provides the necessary nutrients for fetal growth and development. In recent years, there has been significant debate about the consumption of fish among pregnant and breastfeeding women.
In June, following a survey that found that the majority of pregnant women do not eat much fish and thus may have inadequate intake of certain omega 3 fatty acids, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ...
New research adds spice to curcumin's health-promoting benefits
2014-11-06
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The health benefits of over-the-counter curcumin supplements might not get past your gut, but new research shows that a modified formulation of the spice releases its anti-inflammatory goodness throughout the body.
Curcumin is a naturally occurring compound found in the spice turmeric that has been used for centuries as an Ayurvedic medicine treatment for such ailments as allergies, diabetes and ulcers.
Anecdotal and scientific evidence suggests curcumin promotes health because it lowers inflammation, but it is not absorbed well by the body. Most curcumin ...
Joslin scientists discover new step in a molecular pathway responsible for birth defects
2014-11-06
BOSTON - (November 6, 2014) - Mary R. Loeken, Ph.D., Investigator in the Section on Islet Cell and Regenerative Biology at Joslin Diabetes Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has discovered a molecular pathway responsible for neural tube defects in diabetic pregnancies. Her latest research findings in this pathway were published in the October issue of Diabetes.
For 20 years, scientists have known of a gene involved in neural tube defects (such as spina bifida), but until now it was not known exactly what causes this gene to malfunctions ...
Bats identified as hosts of Bartonella mayotimonensis
2014-11-06
The modern sequencing techniques have shown that bats can carry a bacterial species previously been shown to cause deadly human infections in USA.
When the research group of Arto Pulliainen at the Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Finland, analyzed an array of bat samples from Finland and UK, one class of identified bacteria turned out to be exceptionally significant. Multilocus sequence analyses of clonal bat Bartonella isolates demonstrated that bats carry Bartonella mayotimonensis. This species has previously been shown to cause deadly human infections ...
By studying twins, psychologist researches proactivity in the workplace
2014-11-06
MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- A Kansas State University psychological sciences professor is using twin studies to understand the nature versus nurture debate of the workplace: Do genetic factors or environmental factors influence employee proactivity?
His answer: The interaction between the genetic and environmental factors determines why some employees are more proactive than others.
"It's more like nature and nurture rather than nature versus nurture," said Wendong Li, assistant professor of psychological sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences. "It is the reciprocal relationship ...
Researchers develop new model to study epidemics
2014-11-06
For decades, scientists have been perfecting models of how contagions spread, but newly published research takes the first steps into building a model that includes the loop linking individual human behavior and the behavior of the epidemic itself.
The first results of the highly complex modeling led by researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering were recently spotlighted as "brilliant research" by the American Physical Society.
Eventually, the team hopes the model will more accurately predict who should be vaccinated and isolated first ...
Future air quality could put plants and people at risk
2014-11-06
By combining projections of climate change, emissions reductions and changes in land use across the USA, an international research team estimate that by 2050, cumulative exposure to ozone during the summer will be high enough to damage vegetation.
Although the research findings - published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions - focus on the impact in the USA, they raise wider concerns for global air quality, according to lead researcher Dr Maria Val Martin, from the University of Sheffield's Faculty of Engineering
"Modelling future air quality is very complex, ...
All kidding aside: Medical clowns calm children during uncomfortable allergy test
2014-11-06
The dreaded scratch or puncture test is the most common way of assessing allergic reactions to as many as 40 different substances at once. But because the test involves needles that prick multiple points along the skin's surface, it's a particularly high-stress examination for children -- and their understandably anxious parents.
A new study by Tel Aviv University researchers provides the first quantitative analysis of the role of "medical clowns" in assuaging the anxiety and pain felt by children undergoing allergy tests. The research, published in Allergy, was conducted ...
Lifestyle education crucial to help young Americans control their blood pressure
2014-11-06
Far too many "teachable moments" are lost in a doctor's office during which young adults with hypertension could have learned how to reduce their blood pressure. In fact, only one in every two hypertensive young Americans does in fact receive such advice and guidance from a healthcare provider within a year from being diagnosed, says Heather M. Johnson of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in the US. She led a study which examined how regularly such education is provided and documented by one of the ten largest physician practice groups in ...