 Clark 's reports about the finds rekindled interest in the bird . Sir Richard Owen and Alfred Newton both wanted to be first to describe the post @-@ cranial anatomy of the dodo , and Owen bought a shipment of dodo bones originally meant for Newton , which led to rivalry between the two . Owen described the bones in Memoir on the Dodo in October 1866 , but erroneously based his reconstruction on the Edwards 's Dodo painting by Savery , making it too squat and obese . In 1869 he received more bones and corrected its stance , making it more upright . Newton moved his focus to the Réunion solitaire instead . The remaining bones not sold to Owen or Newton were auctioned off or donated to museums . In 1889 , <unk> Sauzier was commissioned to explore the " historical souvenirs " of Mauritius and find more dodo remains in the Mare aux Songes . He was successful , and also found remains of other extinct species . 
