The Natural History Museum and V&A

It was so fascinating to see a Dodo skeleton in the flesh - however it was unclear how 'well put-together' this skeleton was as the only information on it was about the extinction and history of the dodo. I imagine this skeleton is made of parts of different birds and possibly some reproductions as it doesn't seem to 'match' perfectly, in size, texture and colour. The skull is definitely real, and makes me glad that I've decided to make the dodo head longer and with a slimmer beak, instead of thick and stubbier with a very bulbous end like a lot of art and other depictions of the Dodo stylise it to be.

Something that has surprised me is the layout of the feet - in all the other depictions of Dodos I've seen, the back toe is either more towards the inside of the bird more like a thumb, or is in line with the middle toe of the foot and completely central. On the skeleton above, you can see that the back toe sits angled towards the outside of the bird; I haven't seen this in any other examples and it makes me question if perhaps the bird is presented in such a way that the feet are incorrectly rotated inwards. Of course, it doesn't feel right to question the staff of the natural history museum, but this is rather unusual.

The top image is also from the London Natural History Museum, and the bottom is from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. In the top example, you can see that the rear toe appears to be angled slightly inwards towards the bird, and the bottom example shows on the left a rear toe in line with the rest of the foot, and on the right one that is again angled towards the inside. This conflict of depictions suggests to me that it may be most logical to go with the most frequently presented option, and as such the toe will be in line with the rest of the foot.

The two paintings that are above were in the 'Images of Nature' section of the Natural History Museum. The top image shows the classical, most popular painting of the Dodo in its natural habitat, surrounded by other birds in a dark and tropical paradise in a beautifully textured and atmospheric scene. On first glance, the image below it looks like a cheap reproduction, lacking all the texture, depth and skill of the first painting, but it is actually a depiction of the Dodo that better reflects all of the new findings that have been discovered about the shape and size of the Dodo, including that characteristic slimmer beak. There are certain aspects of the Dodo that I'd like to keep faithful to traditional views of its appearance, such as the fluffy, puffball tail that will add so much movement and character to my puppet, but some traits like the flatter back of the newer depiction will better suit my intended purposes and design, being better able to take the saddle and rider.

On a different but equally interesting note, below is a pair of trousers from the ballet 'Swan Lake' which were in the Victoria and Albert Museum. As you can see they have a fantastic soft, fluffy texture, which according to the information panel is simply silk chiffon. Whilst I am avoiding animal materials from an ethical standpoint more in line with the intentions of this puppet, it would certainly be interesting to play around with a synthetic chiffon that hasn't required the labour of an animal to produce, to see if I can achieve a similar effect. I imagine this will be most simply done by sewing a wide strip to a base fabric, then cutting and 'ragging' a bit with a wire brush. Dependent on the texture of the chiffon, it might not even need to be 'ragged'; it depends how straight the fabric naturally hangs.