© 2002 Darryl Wheye ...Science Art-Birds

Title: Nicobar Pigeon and Dodo
Species: Nictobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica), Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)
Artist: Darryl Wheye (for further information, click on the artist's name)
Image size: 13" x 23"
Media: graphite
Date: 2002
Collection of the artist

The Nicobar Pigeon, thought to be the closest living relative of the much larger Dodo, is a wary bird capable of hiding its head within its long neck hackles. It forages among fallen leaves on the forest floor of islands in the Indo-Australian region, from Malaysia to the Solomon and Nicobar Islands. It is in decline from hunting and the conversion of its woodland habitat for timber and agriculture, and ranked as Near Threatened in the IUCN's Red List.

The preserved head of the Dodo is based on a lithograph from The Dodo and its Kindred (Strickland, H.E. and A.G. Melville, 1848, London). That lithograph depicts the remains of a specimen from the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, UK) that had been tagged for “destruction” in 1755 under an Ashmolean guideline stating that old and “perishing” specimens should be replaced. Replacement, however, would prove impossible. There were no other specimens of the bird, extinct since the late 1600s; all subsequent Dodo “specimens” are fakes.