The dodo and the solitaire : a natural history / Jolyon C. Parish.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parish, Jolyon C., 1977-

Series:

Life of the past

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dodo.

Dodo--Pictorial works.

Solitaire (Bird).

Solitaire (Bird)--Pictorial works.

Extinct birds--Mauritius.

Extinct birds.

Extinct birds--Mauritius--Pictorial works.

Birds in art.

Extinct animals in art.

Mauritius.

Genre:

Pictorial works.

Illustrated works.

Physical Description:

xxii, 406 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 29 cm.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2012]

Summary:

The Dodo and the Solitaire is the most comprehensive book to date about these two famously extinct birds. It contains all the known contemporary accounts and illustrations of the dodo and solitaire, covering their history after extinction and discussing their ecology, classification, phylogenetic placement, and evolution. Both birds were large and flightless and lived on inhabited islands some 500 miles east of Madagascar. The first recorded descriptions of the dodo were provided by Dutch sailors who first encountered them in 1598--within 100 years, the dodo was extinct. So quickly did the bird disappear that there is insufficient evidence to form an entirely accurate picture of its appearance and ecology, and the absence has led to much speculation. The story of the dodo, like that of the solitaire, has been pieced together from fragments, both literary and physical, that have been carefully compiled and examined in this extraordinary volume.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 383-398) and index.

ISBN:

9780253000996

0253000998

9780253001030

025300103X

OCLC:

740630833