Meme

I have just finished reading Richard Dawkins memoir ‘An Appetite for Wonder’. Quite a family, what a life and this is only part 1. I got a bit lost when he describes the maths behind his experiments but he also mentions his interpretation of memes which appear to follow on from his ideas regarding the selfish gene. He suggests that there can be something learnt, not necessarily physical, passed on through generations which can bring about some form of repeatable response or action.? Something that can be recognised or understood across an unrelated group.? I think he is talking about something different from instinct. If his mind is following an evolutionary path, it could be that there is a connection here with my quest. I think the image of the Dodo might be described as a confused meme – the model being physical but inaccurate, but acts to support a fixed idea which is passed on because of an anxiety about our own approaching extinction.

Gosh – all a bit deep for me.

Clore Gallery – National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.

Cardiff has a model and skeleton in the collection. The skeleton is on permanent display in the Clore Education Gallery and Julian Carter kindly arranged for the model to be brought out for me to view and photograph. The bird immediately caught the attention of the visiting families on the Saturday that I was there. The model is rather old and tatty but no one seemed to mind and in fact this seemed to add a note of authenticity. There do not appear to be any labels attached but I’m hoping there may be some further information regarding the maker and date.
The day I was there the sun was streaming through the window and the framed glass cast a strong shadow which suggested that the bird was being viewed through the telescopic gun sight.

The feet are brightly pained yellow..

The skeleton was assembled by Roland Ward and appears almost complete. Again not sure if these are real bones or copies, but they are wired together and supported by a brass frame and look authentic to me.

The bird got a lot of attention from the visitors..

Horniman Museum – Forest Hill South London

The Horniman Museum is quite simply wonderful. It’s an amazing place to visit, just the right size with a variety of exhibits including African art and artifacts, natural history, an aquarian in the basement and a musical instrument collection which is stunning. They also have a rather old dodo, keeping an eye on the visitors as they enter the natural history section. Parents stop and point out the bird when entering the area. I visited this museum on a Friday and it was overrun with mums (and some dads and grannies) and pushchairs everywhere…..

Interesting feather arrangement – Dodo with friends.

Natural History Museum London

When I visited the Natural History Museum on a rather cold Thursday in March, I was surprised by how busy it was. On display I found two older models, a skeleton upstairs and in a special exhibition about endangered species, a new leaner version. Also the misleading but charming painting by Roelant Savery (1576-1639) It is thought that the painting depicts the bird looking too well fed having been kept in captivity. A more recent painting by Julian Pender Hulme is displayed next to this painting which is a depiction of a much leaner bird.

This is the newer version which stands taller and has a less ostentatious tail.

Edible Dodo

My long standing friend Terry sent me this present from Oxford.  The neck is broken so I suppose I can go ahead and eat it?  It is probably not true that the dodo became extinct simply through being eaten by the visiting sailors to Mauritius.  The major contributing factor appears to be that the island became a feeding station for passing Dutch shipping and pigs were brought onto the island for breeding.  Some pigs escaped and ran riot across the island.  It is suggested that they contributed to the downfall of the dodo because they raided their nests which were on the ground.  It could be that rats and other pets that escaped from the visiting ships also had a part to play.

 

Paris Natural History Museum

The Dodo has a room to him or herself in a corner of this building on the first floor.  As seems popular today, this rather wonderful museum is quite dark and mysterious.  I was surprised to find that the dodo room has 2 models, a skeleton and a few thigh bones in a side case.  A translation panel states,  ‘The dodo has become an icon, the flagship species of extinction, an ideal that probably arose alongside our guilt.  The dodo and other species personify certain human questions about the possibilities of science.  The issue of cloning for one, with the hope it sparks for hypothetical resurrection.  And so the dodo lives on, at least in memory, and in influence…..’

The feathered model looks a little old and tatty but definitely has character…..

while the plastic version is I think a larger version of the one in La Rochelle.

The bones of the skeleton are polished and possibly not real as it looks too complete?

But this is the largest area devoted to the dodo that I have seen yet and there is quite a lot of additional information on the walls including references to Alice. It was very difficult to photograph in here as I was not allowed to use a tripod so had to lean the camera against any fixed surfaces that were available. It was really dark and atmospheric.

Tring Natural History Museum

If you want to experience past and present Life on Earth this is the place to go.  I have never seen such a range of stuffed animals – particularly apes, bears, dogs and some of the most strange fish.  There are 2 dodos which are close to the floor so that small children can find them.  The white dodo is thought to have lived on Reunion, a nearby island to Mauritius, though there is even less evidence it looked anything like the bird on display.

Sadly the Rodrigues Solitaire suffered the same fate. It is thought that the bird fed on fruits, laid only one egg and was monogamous. How sweet.

Booth Museum of Natural History Hove

This museum founded in 1874 has a massive collection of birds and insects.  It is quite extraordinary how much there is to look at and it has quite a dusty old world feeling.  The collection has a dodo skeleton and a surprising number of bones which I was allowed to look at and photograph.  One of the things that has really impressed me is how friendly and open natural history history museums are to visitors and photographers, unlike art galleries which seem to have to be much more controlled and monitored.  I suppose art is a business and is therefore more about money and copyright issues.

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History

This Museum together with the Pitt Rivers Collection, was the first natural history museum that I visited as a child.  I really think I felt the same as I did when visiting for the first time at that now distant early age.  What a wonderful neo-Gothic building, full of monster skeletons and themed collections housed in this early decorated wrought iron building. The Dodo is referenced in Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) used to visit the Ashmolean with Alice Liddell in Oxford where an original stuffed Dodo was on display. This was purchased from John Tradescant, an early collector who had displayed the live bird in London.  Sadly, the now taxidermied Dodo was in a tattered state of repair when they visited it and there was a report in the Oxford Times stating that various exhibits were to be destroyed (put on the bonfire) and the Dodo was on the list.  Perhaps that is why the bird is included in Alice in Wonderland.  Anyhow the story has helped to maintain an interest in the bird through the generations of children who continue to read the book.  An assistant saved the head and feet from destruction which are now in London – which was far sighted, though at the time it has been suggested that they might have been unaware that the bird had become extinct. One foot has since gone missing…

Liverpool Clore Natural History Centre

The centre has been recently moved into the old library next door to the Walker and has several floors displaying a wide range of material from their natural history collection.  The space has areas that really cater for young visitors and is clearly very popular.  After an initial walk round I failed to find their Dodo and so enquired at the desk.  It turned out not to be on display but I was allowed to go down and have a look at it as there was some moving going on due to flooding and it was standing on top of a filing cabinet.  The bird was rather admired because of its skeletal feet.  It now transpires that the rather convincing bones are carved out of wood – but it still looks great.  This is the closest I have got to the bird so far so it was rather exciting.