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How to live better, according to the Dodo. (No, seriously)
The dodo is both a victim of humans and a symbol of our own power, carelessness and avarice.
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What the dodo symbolises has changed over time.
PHOTO: NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON
Renee Bergland
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Extinction troubled us long before we had a name for it. The original mascot for the loss of species, even before the concept was understood, was the dodo. The bird – fat and flightless, found by 17th-century European sailors on the island of Mauritius – fell victim to one of the earliest known extinctions caused by Western humans. For four centuries, it’s been a symbol in our art and arguments.
What the dodo symbolises has changed over time. It has been, variously, a parable, a joke and a warning. When we see it as an emblem for the destructive greed of our own species, there is no way to avoid regret and sorrow. But the morphing message of the dodo might also call us towards hope. Although we cannot undo the blunders of our ancestors, we can emerge from ecological grief with new determination to protect and enjoy the species we have left. It is possible to imagine building connections with the natural world that lead towards growth.
