Russian dodo • Yuliya Mikhnevich • Science picture of the day on Elements • Ornithology, History of science
In the photo – a skeleton Mauritian dodo, or dodo (Rafus cuculatus) at the exhibition “Mr. X’s Museum Rarities” in State Darwin Museum. The exhibition is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the collector Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov (do not confuse with the philosopher, his full namesake), a private collection, which in 1919 replenished the funds of the Darwin Museum. He collected rare exhibits and spared no expense to acquire them. Thanks to this, today we have the opportunity to see in Russia the skeleton of a dodo, a unique man among birds, exterminated in the XVII study (see the picture of the day Dodo, discovered and … ordinary). In total, 15 intravital drawings of the dodo have survived to this day, about 20 skeletons made up of scattered subfossil bones of various individuals (with a couple of exceptions), a hundred rare bones and fragments, a mummified head. All this “wealth” is found in 26 museums around the world.
The history of the exhibit from the Khomyakov collection is impossible without attention. It began in 1865 when George George, a naturalist and teacher from a Mauritian town Mahebourgsent workers to look for dodo bones in the swamp Mar-o-Songe in the southwestern islands Mauritius. The mystery of the source made it possible to find the remains of the legendary bird, which could be attributed to that time, which was already taken into account mythological, but luck did not smile at him. The fact is that the quality of the soil and the abundant tropical downpours are no coincidence that any remnants have been preserved in Mauritius. However, in 1865, workers collecting from the bottom of the swamp alluvium Turtle bones found. Clark decided that this was the place to look for dodo bones. He hired workers who probed the bottom with bare feet and finally reached the birds that covered the bones. defined like possession of a dodo. In the end, under his influence, the bones of about 300 individuals were discovered. There were few skull bones and wings among them – most likely because the upper part of the bodies of the dead birds was washed away by showers, and the lower part got stuck in the swamp.
Excavations continued until, in 1943, the swamp was covered with boulders. dolerite and gravel for negotiations with malaria. After that, the place became abandoned and eventually forgotten. Research resumed in 2005. It was possible to find a large number of subfossil bones, and also became the cause of the emergence and occurrence of serious problems. Dodos and other vertebrates about 4000 years agoduring a severe drought. Lake Mar-aux-Songes was freshwater, and the animals came there in search of a watering place, but the lake dried up. Looking for water in the remaining puddles, the animals got stuck in the mud and eventually died. Deposits of bones were formed, from which, as from a designer, skeletons were subsequently assembled. The only complete skeleton of a dodo to date – and it consists of the bones of a single individual – was found at the beginning of the 20th century by the hairdresser and naturalist Louis Etienne Thiriou (Louis Etienne Thiriot). However, his whereabouts and other details are unfortunately unknown. You can see the skeleton in the Museum of Natural History of the Mauryan Institute in Port Louis.
But back to the bones found by Clark. He sold them to scientists and museums (as far as he noticed, he got rich). Many of them ended up in Paris, where at the end of the 19th century the taxidermy company Deirol (Deirol) assembled a skeleton from them, which Khomyakov subsequently acquired. This firm at that time was the supplier of the remnants of the dodo in European museums. It still exists in the form of an accessible memorial. scoretrading in natural history items. Its premises can be seen in the film Woody Allen “Midnight in Paris”where the main characters talk during a cocktail party against the backdrop of stuffed ducks and swans.
Until 1919, the dodo exhibit was kept in a mansion on Novinsky Boulevard in Moscow (it has not reached our time), but after the emigration of Khomyakov, for sending his collection, he was nationalized and transferred to the Darwin Museum. Until 1998, bones in six boxes were kept in the safe of the chief custodian. Museum staff puzzled over why such a valuable exhibit was found in the form of scattered bones – in Khomyakov’s collection there were only magnificent exhibition objects. There were no records or memories of it.
He helped move the museum to a new building on Vavilov Street (until 1994 it huddled in part of the premises of the Moscow State Pedagogical University). When moving, the employees went around all the nooks and crannies of the museum. They managed to find a photograph from the 1930s, which is visible in full with the drone skeleton examined:
The main carriers of the metal frame and stands with metal plates with the Latin name of the dodo were found, as well as some families of the owners of the Deirol companies:
Among the newspapers, two high-quality photographs of the skeleton from two sides were found, taken before dismantling in 1941, in order to facilitate the restoration of the skeleton in its original form. It turned out that it was dismantled for evacuation to a safe place in 1941.
After that, in January 1999, the deputy director for scientific work of the museum, zoologist Igor Vyacheslavovich Fadeev (now he is in charge of the finance department and talks very interestingly about the exhibits and scientific news on channel museum on YouTube) at the main curator’s festival Pavel Vladimirovich Bogdanov began the restoration of the exhibit. It took two months to remove the bones with brown oil paint, which was originally to protect the material from mechanical damage. It is occupied that the transfer paint is the one that was painted in the storage of the old museum building. On the cabinets and practiced cleaning off the paint.
After cleaning, it became clear where the real bones were and where the plaster casts were. The phalanges of the fingers, the skull (except for the lower jaw of the bone), the wing (except for the humerus), and the ribs are made of plaster. Also, by the different color of the bones, it became that the skeleton was really assembled from the bones of different individuals. In addition to the fact that inflammation of the external skeleton occurred, they were mixed up in places. During assembly, it was decided not to correct this error of the Parisian preparations and to restore the skeleton in its original form. By March 1999, he was already ready.
It remains only to admire the curiosity and seizure of the museum staff, carried out by joint seizures of restoration, not only in the history of the only dodo exhibit in Russia, but also its original appearance. And thanks to the organizers of the exhibition for the opportunity to see it with my own eyes and touch the history. The dodo is not on display and is present only in temporary exhibitions that do take place. For example, the skeleton was exhibited at an exhibition dedicated to the 185th anniversary of the English King Lewis Carroll “Three Stories of the Dodo” in 2017–2018 The writer immortalized the bird in the book Alice in Wonderland.
The exhibition “Mr. X’s Museum Rarities” will run until December 4, 2022. On it you can not see only dodo, but also exhibits of other extinct birds: the only stuffed extinct bird in the country great auk (penguin impennis), a male and a female of the different-beaked huia (see picture of the day. Different-beaked huia), three passenger pigeons (see picture of the day March, the last passenger pigeon), as well as a leaf from the first edition of Birds of America John James Audubon 1827 with parrots (see picture of the day Caroline parrot). In addition, you will get acquainted with some details of the biography of Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov, an outstanding collector of rarities.
Photo by Yulia Mikhnevich, Darwin Museum, Moscow, August 27, 2022.
Julia Mikhnevich