The Oxford Dodo (OUMNH.ZC.11605)

3D Model

The Oxford Dodo is the most iconic specimen held by Oxford University Museum of Natural History. It is the only surviving dodo soft tissue remains in the world. The specimen was part of the Tradescant collection, one of the founding collections of the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford.

Today, what remains of the original specimen is the skull with left side of skin, the sclerotic ring from the eye, the skeleton of the foot, the sectioned femur, a feather (removed from the head in 1986) and various tissue samples taken over the years.

This scan of the skull was made by Professor Roger Benson, Oxford University Department of Earth Sciences in May 2018 as part of a research project examining domestication in birds.