Robert Hopps

Dodo Puzzle

Inspired by: Robert Adams, Bulldozed Slash

ink and watercolor on Arches paper

14.25″ x 18.25″

2023

In my artwork titled “Dodo Puzzle,” I use ink and watercolor to ask what humans can learn from the extinction of this species – or any species. Should we look at the “fitness” of their species? (Dodos had survived and evolved for hundreds of thousands of years). Should we just count them among the 99% of species that have gone extinct on earth? (Dodos died out 65 years after humans settled the island of Mauritius around 1598. Dodos had no predators before the humans arrived. No rats, cats, dogs or agriculture.). Are they no longer relevant in this age of technology? (Humans arrived on their island using the latest in technology, sailing ships). Will the part Dodos played in the ecology of the island be lost forever? Inspired by the artwork “Bulldozed Slash”. Because all we have left of the dodo are skeletons.