ABSTRACT
Images of dodos are everywhere on the island of Mauritius. In the capital, Port Louis, ceramic and plastic replicas crowd market stalls, rolls of fabric are adorned with borders of the extinct bird, cushion covers feature the familiar plump profile, fluffy dodo toys accentuate a generous form, while a local wood-carver paints soulful eyes on a pine version. On a quiet beach at Gris-Gris on the southern coast of the island, a weathered sign in the shape of the bird warns Bain Dangereux (dangerous bathing). However, the logo of Air Mauritius, one of the many airlines that fly tens of thousands of tourists from europe to Mauritian resorts during the holiday season, is the elegant red-tailed tropical bird or paille-en-queue from Reunion island to the north of Mauritius. As explanation, one of the airline’s advertisements with the wry caption “For three hundred years, there’s been no competition” and the promise of “non Stop Caring” for passengers, has an outline of a stout dodo defined by words printed in the shape of the bird:
The creative director of Mauritian advertising agency Publico acknowledges that the dodo has a “bad” image and, while a representation of the species called tizan was the Mauritian team’s mascot at the indian island Games in 1985, he points out the dodo was not a contender for mascot when a team went to the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.2 But what if the species’ image changed? this is now a possibility, as research by Andrew Kitchener, curator of birds and mammals at the national Museums of Scotland, has provided evidence that dodos were “lithe and active” birds that could run fast3-a perfect mascot for an olympic team.
