 Whether the dodo survived the journey is unknown , and the letter was destroyed by fire in the 19th century . The earliest known picture of a dodo specimen in Europe is from a c . 1610 collection of paintings depicting animals in the royal menagerie of Emperor Rudolph II in Prague . This collection includes paintings of other Mauritian animals as well , including a red rail . The dodo , which may be a juvenile , seems to have been dried or embalmed , and had probably lived in the emperor 's zoo for a while together with the other animals . That whole stuffed dodos were present in Europe indicates they had been brought alive and died there ; it is unlikely that taxidermists were on board the visiting ships , and spirits were not yet used to preserve biological specimens . Most tropical specimens were preserved as dried heads and feet . 
