 The only known soft tissue remains , the Oxford head ( specimen OUM <unk> ) and foot , belonged to the last known stuffed dodo , which was first mentioned as part of the Tradescant collection in 1656 and was moved to the Ashmolean Museum in 1659 . It has been suggested that this might be the remains of the bird that Hamon L 'Estrange saw in London , the bird sent by Emanuel Altham , or a donation by Thomas Herbert . Since the remains do not show signs of having been mounted , the specimen might instead have been preserved as a study skin . Many sources state that the museum burned the stuffed dodo around 1755 because of severe decay , saving only the head and leg . Statute 8 of the museum states " That as any particular grows old and perishing the keeper may remove it into one of the closets or other repository ; and some other to be substituted . " The deliberate destruction of the specimen is now believed to be a myth ; it was removed from exhibition to preserve what remained of it . This remaining soft tissue has since degraded further ; the head was dissected by Strickland and Melville , separating the skin from the skull in two halves . The foot is in a skeletal state , with only scraps of skin and tendons . Very few feathers remain on the head . It is probably a female , as the foot is 11 % smaller and more gracile than the London foot , yet appears to be fully grown . The specimen was exhibited at the Oxford museum from at least the 1860s and until 1998 , where @-@ after it was mainly kept in storage to prevent damage . Casts of the head can today be found in many museums worldwide . 
