It is generally accepted that the meat of the extinct dodo was not a great culinary success. The bird even acquired the name of wallowbird for making the consumers sick. It appears that this reputation came from only one source. Other chroniclers were a lot milder in their assessment of dodo meat and independently reported a delicious meal with a very good flavour. Everything left over was salted down, as they could not eat all the 50 dodos that were brought on board. The taste of the dodo has to be reconsidered. The exact date of extinction of the dodo has been the subject of much discussion. The latest records have been dismissed as being identified as other species of birds; the misunderstanding being caused by name hopping between species. The statistical method of Roberts and Solow has indicated an extinction time for the dodo 24 years later than the confirmed last sighting. Logbooks kept by Isaac Lamotius, Governor of Mauritius between 1677 and 1692, recently discovered in the State Archives in Cape Town, shed another light on this matter. Keywords. Raphus cucullatus, Isaac Lamotius, red rail, Aphanopterix bonasia, extinction
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