The Dodo

At https://phys.org/news/2019-09-year-old-swamp-brimming-bones-reveals.html … a 12,000 year old swamp (taking us back roughly to the Younger Dryas period) brimming with bones reveals the ecosystem in which the giant Dodo bird thrived. A 19th century account of a swamp on Mauritius which was so chock with extinct animal bones you only had to stick your hand into the water to retrieve them has inspired researchers from the Natural History Museum to seek it out, and begin to excavate what is set to be the site of hundreds of remains of animals. So far they have collected many bones from Mauritius animals – a diversity of species that surprised them. Bones were found at a density of 600 per cubic metre. Giant tortoise, giant skink, and the giant bird, the Dodo. The excavations are likely to continue for a long time yet.