March 17 on the reason you don't want to be a Dodo

Tomorrow we visit Mauritius for a day. Apparently, SAS used to visit at least one overnight, but some students made some “bad choices” and so SAS is no longer welcome that long. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to it since I think it's going to be glorious. Mauritius was “discovered” by the Portuguese in 1507 who found no people there, but it was the ONLY home of the Dodo bird. Then the Dutch, then the French, and finally it became a republic within the British Commonwealth in 1992. Over the years, the natural forest was cut down to plant sugar cane, and now tourism has become big business. The language spoken is English and sort of a French kind of language called “Creole.” The Dodo bird couldn't fly, became very fat—weighing up to 50 pounds—and were killed by people to eat. In addition to being food for people, the rats that came on the ships that landed here, ate the eggs of the bird, so now there are none.

One of the important things the Dodo did was eat the seeds of a special tree on the islands. After going through their digestive system, the seeds would drop and take root. After the Dodos were no longer around, new trees stopped sprouting. People were worried that the trees would become extinct too. Somebody figured out the connection between the Dodo birds and the “preparation” of the seeds for taking root. Now they put the seeds from the trees into a rock tumbler and new trees are beginning to take root!

LJ & SK—can you find an image of the Dodo bird? There are only sketches from very old skeletons and what people think they looked like. Some people used to use the phrase, “You're such a Dodo.” That wasn't exactly a compliment!

I am really anxious to go on the “cultural tour” because I think we will see some of the large sugar cane plantation home previously owned by the French and British. Some people I know are going to the beautiful beaches and snorkeling. I remember I did that on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia but that was 13 years ago!