Sketches of dodos

The Moluccan fleet of the Fifth Expedition sailed to the East Indies archipelago in 1601. By August the expedition’s crew suffered heavily from scurvy, which made the leadership decide to sail to Mauritius. This island had first been visited by ships of the Second Expedition a few years prior and during that expedition the island had been found to be rich in fresh water and food supplies. The Fifth Expedition stayed at Mauritius from 27 September to 20 October and during this time the crew encountered and caught many of the island’s indigenous birds. A number of these were drawn in the journal of the Gelderland, probably by Joris Joostensz. Laerle.

These drawings are sketches of dodo’s (Raphus cucullatus). It is one of the first depiction of the animal that shows the bird in a very lifelike manner. It is now extinct as it was hunted by Dutch and French colonists and the animals they introduced.