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NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:38 pm Page 1 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:38 pm Page 2 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:38 pm Page 3

'Bones to Bronze' Extinct of the

Sculptures by Nick Bibby

Gallery Pangolin 2004 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:38 pm Page 4

Introduction

Shivers must surely go up the spine of Easily the most celebrated is the , anyone who visits this exhibition, for the flightless and comically misshapen, eleven bronze sculptures all represent which disappeared in the , and creatures that have vanished from the one of the most recent casualties is the face of Earth. There is something lesser fruit bat, which hung on until the unnerving about the fact that they are middle of the 19th century. gone forever, driven out of existence by the carelessness and greed of The idea of making reconstructions mankind. The reconstructions take came from Dr Carl Jones, the biologist up very little space, yet they have who for the past 25 years has worked positively global significance, since as director of the Mauritian Wildlife they represent the latest initiative in Foundation, running the island’s unique an ambitious and imaginative conservation programme. campaign to slow down the tide that Together with Rungwe Kingdon and is sweeping thousands of species Claude Koenig, directors of the towards . Pangolin Editions sculpture foundry at Chalford, near Stroud, he conceived These and once lived on the notion of recreating lost species, the Mascarene Islands – , and deploying the bronze sculptures Réunion and – way out in on the Ile aux Aigrettes, a 35-hectare the to the east of Africa. islet off the south-eastern shore of NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:38 pm Page 5

Mauritius, which is now a nature reserve early reports of the various species, and has become the Foundation’s and hunting down the scant remains. showpiece. The pooling of their scholarly research enabled the sculptor Nick Bibby to The little island has been cleared of model the creatures in clay, from exotic vegetation, and the indigenous which the bronzes have been flora, such as ebony trees, are being cast. re-established. Alien creatures like rats, rabbits and wolf-snakes, thoughtlessly The blue pigeon was relatively simple imported by early sailors, have also to visualise, for three stuffed specimens been removed, and some of the of the survive, and the sculptor original inhabitants have been could not only see and measure them, restored, among them the but could count every – which and the - both he did. As for the dodo – no body retrieved from the brink of extinction by exists, and the only physical relics the careful breeding programmes. Yet in all team had to work on were a there are fourteen species which can mummified head (once in the never be brought back to life and Ashmolean , and now in the eleven of the bronzes are already sited Science Museum in ), and some on the islet as part of a trail which bones. There is also the cast of a foot visitors can walk. (formerly in the British Museum, but now missing), and numerous drawings done What cannot be immediately by early visitors to the islands. apparent, either on Mauritius or here, is the astonishing amount of research From these scraps, and from their own that has gone into the recreation of sketches of the remains, the each bird and . The Pangolin researchers painstakingly built up a team, supported by Nick Arnold of the three-dimensional picture of what they Natural History Museum, author Errol believe the dodo must have looked Fuller and the independent experts like. The cast yielded information about Anthony Cheke and Julian Pender- the scales on its feet, and the shrunken Hume, went to extraordinary lengths in head revealed much about the gape search of authenticity, researching of its , the shape of its nostrils and NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:38 pm Page 6

the skin over its eyes. “The dodo is so the world. He has the lower jaw of one, much in everybody’s consciousness which he describes as “like a JCB that we absolutely had to get it right,” shovel.” With awe he holds up a seed says Rungwe Kingdon. “We’ve tried to from a tambalacoque tree – once the make all the replicas as exactly like the bird’s staple food. “I put one of these originals as possible, so that they have in a vice,” he said, “and it took five full some scientific credibility.” turns of the handle before it would crack. The strength in the ’s Still more shadowy was the giant beak must have been phenomenal.” gecko, of which only a skeleton was available. Yet from study of a smaller And yet, more than any strange gecko, a close relative which survives individual characteristics, it is the idea on Round Island (another islet of the of extinction, and the finality of it, that Mascarenes), Nick Bibby was able gives this exhibition its particular power. to reconstruct the larger , The bronzes should arouse feelings of going into such minute detail that outrage at what humans have done he furnished it with 35,000 scales. to the planet, and strengthen determination to curb further Of all the lost birds, none impresses destruction of our environment. Rungwe Kingdon more than the broad- billed parrot – a giant, with the biggest, Duff Hart-Davis most powerful beak of any parrot in February 2004 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:38 pm Page 7

Dodo Head Raphus cucullatus 35cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 8

Red Aphanapterix bonasia 29cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 9 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 10

Rogdrigues Giant Gecko Phelsuma gigas 47cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 11 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 12

Mauritius Scops Owl Scops commersoni 40cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 13 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 14

Rodrigues Giant vosmaeri 122cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 15 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 16

Broad-billed Parrot Lophopsittacus mauritianus 42cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 17 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 18

Mauritius Giant Skink Didosaurus mauritianus 24cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 19 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 20

Mauritius Blue Pigeon Alectroenas nitidissima 42.5cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:39 pm Page 21 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 22

Lesser Mascarene Fruit Bat Pteropus subniger 31cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 23 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 24

Dodo Raphus cucullatus 78cm high NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 25 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 26

Stepping into the Past

When the last Dodo became extinct an inevitable consequence of on the island of Mauritius sometime development. The Dodo was a late in the 17th century, it was the first caricature of a bird, a dull, ponderous, time that mankind realised that we flightless, stupid creature doomed to could cause the total demise of a extinction. The reality however is that species. Up until then it was assumed these views are hopelessly inaccurate. that species were inexhaustible and if Mauritius may still be a paradise to a population disappeared from one many but it is a mere shadow of its area then another would be found former self, a fractured paradise that elsewhere. With the of the last has lost important parts. Not only has Dodo we realised that we could the Dodo gone but Mauritius and the cause the extinction of species and to other islands in the Mascarenes have avoid further losses we had to nurture lost herds of Giant , giant wildlife. This was an important reptiles, flightless rails, large , the realisation; the death of the last Dodo Solitaire, owls and a host of other saw the dawning of modern amazing creatures. conservation consciousness. Damaged though the of Today Mauritius is seen as a paradise Mauritius might be, it is still possible to island, unspoilt beaches, verdant hills save some of the fractured pieces and and exotic birds, the loss of the Dodo to recover rare and endangered NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 27 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 28

species. The Mauritius Kestrel, once have been helped by being fed and by reduced to four birds including only controlling their introduced predators. one breeding pair, has been restored Wild nests are carefully managed to by careful nurturing, ensure that most of the result in and reintroduction to a vibrant fledged young. The wild population of population of about eight hundred. this beautiful parrot has increased and this year the population has reached The Pink Pigeon, reduced to just ten two hundred birds. wild birds in 1990, has increased to a healthy, free-living population of three Slowly we have learned how to save the hundred and fifty. This has been rarest species and this has driven the achieved by releasing captive birds need to save the in which they and caring for these and their wild live. Areas of native forest are being relatives by feeding them and restored and the rare plants that grow in controlling their predators. these forests are grown in nurseries and planted out to boost their wild The , last of several populations. The restoration of forest parrots endemic to the Mascarene often involves the exclusion or control of islands, declined to only eight known the introduced exotic such as birds in the late 1980’s of which only two pigs, deer, monkeys, cats, were females. These birds were and rats that are so destructive to the breeding infrequently and the odds plants and native birds. seemed to be weighted heavily against them. There was a shortage of food, the It is virtually impossible to keep out all native fruits on which they fed were of the introduced mammals from being eaten by introduced monkeys forest plots so we have rehabilitated and rats and when the parakeets did small islands where in many cases it is try to breed they often failed because possible to eradicate all the exotic predators took the eggs or killed the . The two most important are young. Again careful management has Round Island and Ile aux Aigrettes helped these birds. Some have been where many of the exotic mammals bred in captivity and their young have been removed and where we released to the wild. The free-living birds have replanted native plants. NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 29

On Ile aux Aigrettes we have grazed large lawn-like areas and reintroduced the Pink Pigeon and others browsed trees. Parrots would Mauritius Kestrel and more recently a have carried fruits around the forest small population of the rare endemic thereby dispersing them and the passerine the Mauritius Fody. Ile aux extinct Lesser Fruit Bat may once have Aigrettes has become a focal area for pollinated the palm trees. Putting much of our work and the restoration together the different components is of this and other small islands has like imagining how all the pieces fit been exceedingly challenging. How together in a dynamic, multi- do you restore and rebuild the dimensional jigsaw. The more we have ecology of an island? What did these worked on the restoration of these islands or the mainland of Mauritius ecological systems the more we are once look like? And, how did the beginning to realise the role that the species that once lived there fit into extinct species may have played. That the ecology? We know from early realisation has been hard earned accounts that some of the tortoises through painstaking research. NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 30

The most recent part of the story, to tortoises and explaining what all of recreate the extinct species in the different shell features meant. bronze, starts deep in a cave on Rodrigues. I was part of a team There were two species and they helping to dig up the remains of had lightweight shells making them extinct species that had fallen into very nimble (for tortoises!) and one the cave and perished there. It was a species had an elongate giraffe-like very powerful experience handling neck for browsing. As I listened, the the bones of tortoises, the Solitaire animal started to come alive in my and other birds; I felt I was touching imagination. I could marry these facts the past. Some of the tortoise remains with what we knew of the tortoises looked as if they had only been there from the accounts of 17th century a short while; the carapaces were sailors and I could imagine how they intact and the bones looked fresh. I fitted into the pristine ecology of the handed tortoise remains to Dr Nick island. I was driven by these mental Arnold from the Natural History images and wanted to know how Museum, London and he started to these tortoises really looked in life. interpret the finds, ageing the I questioned Nick further and he NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 31

mentioned that they had enough would be more challenging since all remains to give us all the information we had to go on were early drawings to make an accurate model. or a few bones. With these we had to refer to closely related or similar Eager to make my own model tortoise species to fill in the missing details and I decided to discuss the project with there were many heated discussions Rungwe Kingdon and Claude Koenig between the various experts. What who would be able to advise me on was the shape of the Dodo’s nostril how to make one. Claude patiently and was the Broad-billed Parrot really told me some of the modelling a of cockatoo? Rungwe made techniques while Rungwe butted in sense of all the information, did the “we will cast it for you in bronze” drawings and acted as arbitrator. followed by a thoughtful pause and then emphatically “I’ll tell you what we As the drawings emerged and Nick will do, we’ll get a sculptor to do it and Bibby transformed them into three while we're at it we'll do the Dodo and dimensions many previous ideas were all the extinct animals.” I tried to challenged. We realised that previous reason but there was no going back. reconstructions in two dimensions had The project to make the extinct oversimplified many features. The species had started to take shape and Saddle-backed Tortoise from within days Rungwe and Claude had Rodrigues had a reach of four feet the whole project planned and Nick making perfect sense of the fact that Bibby was hired as the best sculptor for some of the native plants have the job. various defence features up to a height of four feet! The Broad-billed We all knew that the reconstruction of Parrot, often considered to be these extinct species was going to be flightless, had a wing structure and tail a challenge. Some such as the Lesser that suggested it could fly. The Fruit Bat and the Blue Pigeon would be reconstructions also made us think relatively straightforward to make as closely about some of the features. there were preserved specimens to Did the Blue pigeon have a bare face copy, while others such as the Owl, to feed on large soft fruits? And why Giant Skink, and the Broad-billed Parrot does the have such a strong NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 32

beak, did it feed on lizards or was it a allowed us to reconstruct them, for snail specialist? most of these creatures no DNA exists. However, we know that species exist These last three years have brought not only in their own right but also as several Mascarene biologists and ecological units and it is quite feasible artists together as we have attempted that for many we may be able to to step into the past and really introduce other species with the same understand what these amazing or similar ecology. Hence we may be creatures looked like. It is likely that we able to replace the niche occupied have not modelled all of the species by extinct species with their closest completely accurately but we have living relatives. The Giant produced what are the most accurate Tortoise has already been introduced reconstructions ever made. They stand to Ile aux Aigrettes and one day as our visual interpretation of these perhaps the giant gecko from creatures and are displayed on Ile aux Rodrigues may be replaced by the Aigrettes next to many of the living large Guenther’s Gecko from Round species we are helping to restore. Not Island. There are many other only are they a keen reminder of what possibilities and as we learn more has been lost but by using the about extinct species and their role in information these sculptures give us we the pristine ecology, the more we can can also take the process to a further accurately reconstruct the exciting stage. that once existed on the pristine islands of the Mascarenes. We cannot bring them back from extinction and probably never will be Dr Carl Jones MBE able to since even if DNA technology February 2004 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 33

Reconstruction References and process NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 34

Drawing from the journal of the Gelderland voyage to the East Indies 1601-3 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 35

'Birds in the Menagerie of ' Ustad Mansur 1625 Moghul miniature NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 36

Engraving after Roelandt Savery 1626 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 37

Dodo Feet Lithograph by Joseph Dinkel 1848 Strickland & Melville NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 38

Dodo foot bones Collection Oxford University Museum NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 39

Dodo head Collection Oxford University Museum NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 40

Working drawing of 2 day old Pink Pigeon squab illustrating neotenous characteristics NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 41

Working drawing of 6 day old Pink Pigeon squab illustrating neotenous characteristics NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 42

Lithograph illustrating comparative proportions of Dodo and J. Erxleben 'The Osteology of the Dodo' by Professor Transaction of the Zoological Society 1871 NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 43

Working drawing from Dodo skeleton showing correct posture and proportion of and stomach in adult NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 44

Final reconstructive drawing of Dodo NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 45

Final reconstructive drawing of Dodo head NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 46

Nick Bibby

Nick Bibby was born in County Durham and his astonishing ability to in 1960 and spent much of his render natural textures of feather, fur childhood wandering the Lake District and scales in wax and clay has found and Cumbria and developing his unrivalled expression in this collection of abiding love of nature. sculptures.

"I love to sculpt wildlife, to try to capture "It has become incredibly important to the character and vitality of the subject me to 'bring these animals back to life', as I observe it going about its daily to try and produce sculptures that look business." as though they are just about to fly off, walk or crawl away the moment you He drew and painted from an early age turn your back, not some dusty, lifeless and began sculpting commercially at museum piece. Over the three years the age of 16, producing small pieces in that I have spent working on this pewter and white metals. He began project, I have become increasingly casting into bronze in 1992 and his aware of how close we came to meticulously detailed animal studies actually seeing these wonderful have become collectors’ items. creatures, only a few hundred years at most, less in some cases, an eye blink of Bibby is the perfect sculptor to carry out geological time. I dream about them the painstaking reconstructive work for sometimes, but when I wake they are all this project. His deep understanding of still irretrievably lost." NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 47

Partly modelled head and armature with historical references, cast replicas Reconstruction of skeleton of skeleton and preserved pigeon squab NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 48

Clothing the armature using historical references and working drawings NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 49

Nick Bibby modelling the body using historical references and cast replicas of skeleton NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 50

Afterword

Bones to Bronze is the culmination of a The survival of this project has also long, exciting and tremendously depended upon the generous support rewarding collaboration. We are of many individuals, in particular Owen indebted to Dr Carl Jones, Dr Nick and Mary-Ann Griffiths, Damien Hirst, Arnold, Julian Pender-Hume, Anthony Veronique Fromanger Des Cordes and Cheke and Errol Fuller who freely shared Jacques Chalom Des Cordes. their expertise, crucial to the realisation of the whole project. Behind the scenes of such an undertaking there is, as always, a huge We are exceedingly grateful to Nick team of dedicated people working Bibby for achieving the mammoth task towards its realisation. We are therefore we set him with such tireless dedication, enormously grateful to everyone patience and love. Special thanks must involved at the foundry and at the also go to Duff Hart-Davis for his sensitive Wildlife Foundation in Mauritius. and insightful introduction and also to Dr Andrew Kitchener, Dr Andrew Claude Koenig Greenwood, Dr Sammy de Grave, Rungwe Kingdon Dr Wendy Strahm, Bob Thornycroft and Jane Buck Elena Kingdon. NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 51

Acknowledgements

Casting: Pangolin Editions Photography: Steve Russell Dutton Working Drawings: Rungwe Kingdon Catalogue Design: Gallery Pangolin Printing: Healeys Printers Ltd

All work in this exhibition is for sale. A percentage of proceeds will be donated to the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to further conservation work in the Mascarene Islands.

Gallery Pangolin Chalford Glos GL6 8NT England Tel 00 44 (0)1453 886527 Email [email protected] NEW Btobronze 6/7/06 3:40 pm Page 52

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