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comment by cliffelam

People eat possum too, but nobody would call it tasty. IIRC dodo was not tasty, thus violating my condition. I also suspect rats and snakes had more to do with it becoming extinct than humans. Probably pigs too, if Hawaii is any indication.

-XC





thenewgreen  ·  4325 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There are conflicting reports on what Dodo tasted like. StJohn is our resident expert on the topic. If you've not already done so, I recommend reading Dodo a la Orange -great read. b_b

StJohn  ·  4325 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I remember writing this article in February 2012. Two months later a new movie came out called The Pirates! Band of Misfits in which Queen Victoria goes around eating all the rarest animals she can kill (and Charles Darwin has to stop her — great movie!) But to my amazement they cracked the exact same joke about "Dodo à l'orange" that I did. You can imagine me sputtering with delight and indignation in the cinema.

But about the elephants, I've read that the number of tusk-less elephants has been steadily climbing over the 20th century. They're apparently evolving quite rapidly to survive the ivory trade. Science is neat.

cliffelam  ·  4325 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Until proven otherwise, all water birds are assumed to taste like seagull and not mallard.....

b_b  ·  4325 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think dodo was a land bird, so maybe it tasted more like emu (which I've had...it leaves a lot to be desired). If only all water birds did taste like mallard...sigh.

cliffelam  ·  4325 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well, it was flightless, but it was on an island, so I'm gonna guess it was shellfish, small fish, and bugs.

Hey, maybe it tasted like chicken?

FWIW, we had some very good emu while living in Oz.

-C

b_b  ·  4325 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I only had it once at some big game dinner/charity event. It was a long time ago, but I believe it was cooked into a stew of some sort. I don't remember caring for it, but I'm by no means an expert on what constitutes good emu.