Have you heard that dodo meat tasted foul? Loathsome, even. You’re not alone. It’s a strangely prevalent rumor, given that nobody alive today has ever eaten one. However, it’s quite possible that this “fact” is one that got lost in translation. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Known to science as Raphus cucullatus , dodos also went by the nickname “wallowbird”, said to have been inspired by the way their meat made people sick. But as Jan den Hengst, author of The Dodo: The Bird That Drew the Short Straw , wrote in a 2009 study , this dodo meat review may have been misunderstood.

In “ The Dodo And Scientific Fantasies: Durable Myths Of A Tough Bird ”, Hengst explores primary Dutch sources dating from 1598 to 16

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