Dodo reconstruction at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France
This replica of the dodo is the result of interpretative work based on historical and scientific research: accounts, depictions and bones. No taxidermied specimen of the species exists. The bird was created by the artist Camille Renversade and realised in collaboration with the museum’s taxidermy workshops. Image: Doreen Fräßdorf, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle Paris
Birds

Dodo – Dead as a dodo

The dodo, related to pigeons (Columbidae), is probably the best-known example of an animal species exterminated by humans. References to the bird in literature and painting are common—for example in chapter three of the children’s book Alice in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll or in the paintings of the Flemish

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Epactoides giganteus
Insects

Epactoides giganteus (scarab beetle)

First extinct, then discovered: the scarab beetle Epactoides giganteus In 1817, the French botanist Nicolas Bréon found himself on Réunion, part of the Mascarene island group, which he would not leave again until 1833 due to health problems. During his time there he was director of the botanical garden Jardin

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Mauritius-Schnauzenfalter (Libythea cinyras) - Holotyp
Insects

Mauritius Libythid Butterfly

Known from only one specimen Only a single specimen of the Mauritius libythid butterfly or snout butterfly is known, collected in 1865 on the Mascarene island of Mauritius in the Moka District. A certain Mr. Colville Barclay discovered the snout butterfly and gave it to the British-South African naturalist Roland

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Ectophylla alba
Mammals

Bory’s White Bat

“Small white bats” seek shelter in palm leaves The French naturalist and botanist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent explored the mouth of the Rivière du Mât in November 1801, in what is now the municipality of Saint-Joseph in the southern part of the island of Réunion. He was studying red

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