Update: Living Dodo Captured on Video?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on March 2nd, 2015
Posted on Facebook by Biologia com o Prof. Jubilut:
Galera, eu recebi esse vídeo da seguidora Letícia Blause. Foi gravado na Costa Rica. O que vocês acham que é? Parece um Dodô! Só que o bicho foi extinto há mais de 300 anos. Loucura né? Real ou montagem? Deixo pra vocês descobrirem.
Translation:
Guys, i received this video of the follower abhiruchiji blause. It was recorded in costa rica. What do you think it is? Looks like a dodo! Only that the animal has been extinct for over 300 years. Crazy huh? Real or montage? I leave you to find out.
Clarification on the translation above: It is an automatic translation performed by Facebook.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Fake. Mmmmm…. right? “If it seems too good to be true…”. CGI?
Seeing as how the Dodo was limited to Mauritius, I’m gonna have to call this a very coolish fake!
I’m going to have to go with FAKE!
Interestingly enough, it looks as if the video was sent in from someone in Peru, where, by the way, they speak Spanish. However, the English translation was from Brazilian Portuguese. Who knows? Maybe a Peruvian follows a Brazilian Portuguese website, even though the languages are very different. I speak both, but when in Brazil, I did not find many Brazilians that spoke Spanish and when in Peru, I did not find many Peruvians that speak Portuguese. So that is a red flag for me.
Another red flag for me is that the bird that appears in the background of the video does not appear to be the same bird that walks in front of the camera lens, at the end of the video. I could be mistaken but they look different. So that is another red flag for me.
Thirdly, as Goodfoot stated above, the dodo was limited to Mauritius, which is an island. Islands typically have little to no large predators. And since the dodo was not the most intelligent of birds, it was able to thrive there. Low intelligence and lack of predators, except man, equals the survival of the dodo there, at least for a limited time. However, having been in South American jungles, I can attest that there are numerous predators. The dodo might be able to evade them if it were living there, but I deem this extremely unlikely. So this is another red flag for me.
Because of these red flags, my conclusion is that this is not a video of a dodo. But because nothing is impossible, it could be that if the video is authentic, then perhaps the bird in question could be some yet undiscovered species that resembles a dodo. I find that probability extremely low but am unwilling to categorize such a bird existing in the jungles of Peru, as totally impossible.
Just my two cents or dos centavos!
In the above post, I meant to type “Costa Rica” instead of “Peru”. Really does not matter though since Spanish is the same language in both of those countries. The same concept applies. And yes, many predators exist in Costa Rican jungles as well.
Clarification on the translation above: It is an automatic translation performed by Facebook.
Puppetry, dudes. Not quite SESAME STREET level, but the same techniques.
A puppet, yeah, I can see that. Maybe it’s some sort of enclosure for a pet iguana staged to look like a jungle floor. And thanks, Craig, for the translation.
Everything looked good until the DODO got up close to the camera. The light reflections aren’t there as they were with the Iguana when it was up close. I think this is CG! This is a very good hoax. It had me convinced for the longest time.
Man, I realize it has to be fake, but the more I watch it, the more authentic it seems. The most suspicious part to me is the apparent staging of the bird from one place to another. Grrrrr…..
Not so fast. I don’t believe it’s a puppet all the movements I see are extremely natural. I believe it picks up a leaf in its beak when it first comes into view, everything from the tail feathers shaking, the mouth or beak opening . Even the pigeon like strut would lead me to believe that it’s not a puppet. CGI maybe, would like to see the whole film from start to finish. very interesting to say the least.
I am fairly sure I have the source material for this. The bird itself seems to come from the BBC’s ‘Extinct’ series transmitted about ten years ago. It’s good, but I think until the BBC programme is examined frame-by-frame we should not get too excited about this. I think personally you will find that is where it is from. Sorry.
If it’s any consolation, Jerdon’s babbler has just turned up alive and well after 73 years in Myanmar.
There is no matches from the “Extinct” documentary thought it was discussed in one Facebook group. The bird you see in the beginning part of the video has picked up something off the ground & that doesn’t match where timespots were claimed matching in the documentary. There were no other matches from other timepoints either. In addition leg length at the 0:16-0:17 marks is longer compared to the short stubby length in the documentary. Another thing I noticed is that at the 0:13 second mark that another bird head pops up on the other side of the log. That hasn’t been noticed by anyone so far that I know of & the person supplying the video never mentioned it. There actually were 2 birds in the video though we can’t confirm they are the same type.
One thing that is important to consider is regarding who provided the video & does she match a hoaxer stereotype. That answer is “no” as she appears just to be someone who likes to film & photograph nature. She originally posted it to her Facebook page & then provided it to a biologist/professor. Her comments on her page regarding the video (translated) – Guys, does anyone know that bug is this??? I have tried to shoot some reptiles at night in my last trip to costa rica and the camera recorded this bird. Is it possible to be a dodo or something of the sort? I know that he is not there a long time ago, but it was the only species that i found it like that.” (By the way – she lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Regarding why the dodo is blurrier than the iguana at the end as well different light reflections. My guess is that the blurriness is due to the auto-focus function as well as the slow speed of the iguana compared to the bird. Note when the iguana is close that the sticks & leaves behind it are blurry. When the bird walks by – the sticks & leaves on the ground are more in focus – the camera hadn’t adjusted it’s focus at that point.
It is true Dodos are from Mauritius which was a Dutch colony. It also is true that some were transported abroad. It also is true the Dutch used them as food. It also is true that the Dutch traded with Spanish colonies in the Caribbean area & maybe even lived there as some timepoints themselves. Could they have released dodos there as a food source (similar to how they released pigs on the island of Mauritis)?
One argument I heard is that dodos lay their eggs on the ground & predators would have got to them. Costa Rica does have 5 species of Tinamous – poor flying birds which lay their eggs in indentations on the ground at the base of the tree or in a thicket. They survive rather well so birds that lay eggs on the ground in Costa Rica are able to live on.
One thing to consider is that it appears to be small compared to descriptions of dodo birds but then evolution of even a few hundred years could cause size to become smaller if released into a new environment… if this is a dodo. Could a dodo become smaller to adapt to a new environment in this short time period? Maybe even grow longer wings for short flight? How long would that take? (Note – I’m not saying the video subject has longer wings as their is no proof but the size is smaller IMO). There’s an example of cliff swallows shortening their average wingspan in just 30 years to adapt to their environment of “highway traffic” – see http://ensia.com/voices/fast-evolution/
I’m 50/50 to 65/35 back & forth on if this video is legit or not. Yes – it could be CGI & some have stated on how it can be done. However – it hasn’t proven to be a hoax… nor has it proven to be real. Personally I feel that it is a major mistake to dismiss this video. It is plausible by reasons I stated for Dodos to show up in Costa Rica.