Dodo and Shanghai Tower

Dodo : Extinct in 1662 

Shanghai Tower : 632m, Shanghai, China 

 

 

 

Dodo and Shanghai Tower _76x57cm_watercolor on paper_2014

 

 

The dodo is an extinct bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Having lived undisturbed for so long without predators on the small, isolated island of Mauritius, it became fat and lost its ability to fly. It lived and nested on the ground and ate fruits that fell from trees. During the breeding season, it laid a single white egg. The dodo was first discovered in 1507 by a Portuguese expedition. The island was soon after visited by Europeans, who hunted the dodo ruthlessly. Upon its first encounter with humans, the curious dodo approached them without reserve, and hunters could catch it easily even only by hand. The dodo later became victim to pigs and monkeys brought to the island by humans: the eggs and hatchlings of the dodo were put in grave danger and the dodo rapidly went extinct. The last sighting of a dodo was in 1662. As the first species made extinct by human beings, the dodo became an important symbol in the history of animal extinction.