The dodo

The Dodo, or Raphus cucullatus to give it its proper name, is one of the most well known birds in the world, despite the fact that it has been extinct for several hundred years. Gerald Durrell’s choice of the Dodo as a logo for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust serves as both a prompt to highlight the importance of conservation action and as a warning that should this not be heeded many more animals face the same fate as the Dodo.

Prior to the mid to late 19th century virtually no scientific evidence of the Dodo’s existence had been found and still today the popular image of the Dodo is built from largely unreliable, inaccurate descriptions which depict it as a comical bird, too stupid to escape the onslaught of the arrival of man with the colonisation of the islands in the 17th century. The truth of their demise is as applicable today to the potential fate of many animals under threat of extinction: habitat loss, hunting, introduced predators, human encroachment and climate change.

Durrell’s Dodo logo is an image that is as relevant today as it was when Gerry set up the Trust in 1963. For more information about Durrell’s work to save species from extinction today please click here.