Mare aux Songes
Stratigraphic range: Holocene
Type	Geological formation
Location
Region	Africa
Country	Mauritius
Mare aux Songes encircled on a map of the Mauritian railway system in 1866

The Mare aux Songes (English: "sea of taro";^[1] French: [ma.ʁ‿o sɔ̃ʒ]) swamp is a lagerstätte located close to the sea in south eastern Mauritius. Many subfossils of recently extinct animals have accumulated in the swamp, which was once a lake, and some of the first subfossil remains of dodos were found there.

History

In 1865, a British railway engineer working in south-east Mauritius noticed bones that had been disturbed by workers digging peat.^[1] He showed his findings to the government schoolmaster at Mahébourg, George Clark, who subsequently uncovered an abundance of subfossil dodo bones in the swamp. Clark had been searching for thirty years, having been inspired by Strickland & Melville's monograph about the bird.^[2] In 1866, Clark explained his procedure to The Ibis, an ornithology journal:

After many fruitless visits to the spot... I resolved by sending some men into the centre of the marsh, where the water was about three feet deep and there, by feeling in the mud with their naked feet, they met with one entire tibia, a portion of another, and a tarso-metatarsus. The Dodo bones were imbedded only in the mud at the bottom of the water in the deepest part of the marsh... Encouraged by success, I employed several hands to search in the manner described, but I met with but few specimens of dodo bones till I thought of cutting away a mass of floating herbage nearly two feet in thickness, which covered the deepest part of the marsh. In the mud under this, I was rewarded by finding bones of many dodos.^[3]

The dodo skeleton Richard Owen put together from bones found in the Mare aux Songes

Remains of over 300 dodos were found in the swamp, but only very few skull and wing bones among them, which may be explained by the upper bodies having been washed away or scavenged while the lower body was trapped, which is similar to the way many moa remains have been found in New Zealand marshes.^[4] In 1889, Théodor Sauzier was commissioned to find more dodo remains in the Mare aux Songes. He was successful, and also found remains of other extinct species.^[5] Twenty-six museums worldwide have significant holdings of dodo material, almost all found in the Mare aux Songes.^[6]

In October 2005, after a hundred years of neglect, a part of the Mare aux Songes swamp was excavated by an international team of researchers. To prevent Malaria, the British had covered the swamp in hard core during their rule over Mauritius, which had to be removed. Many remains were found, including bones of dodos in various stages of maturity, and several bones obviously from the skeleton of one individual dodo, which have been preserved in their natural position.^[7] These findings were made public in December 2005 in the Naturalis museum in Leiden. Of the fossils found in the swamp, 63% belonged to turtles of the extinct genus Cylindraspis, and 7.1% belonged to dodos, which had been deposited within several centuries, 4000 years ago.^[8] Subsequent excavations suggested that dodos, along with other animals, became mired in the Mare aux Songes while trying to reach water during a long period of severe drought about 4,200 years ago.^[9]

Paleofauna

The following animals have been identified from fossils in the Mare aux Songes.^[8][4]

Birds

Birds reported from the Mare aux Songes
Species	Authority	Common name	Family	Material	IUCN status	Images
Aphanapteryx bonasia	Selys, 1848	Red rail	Rallidae	Mandibles, tibiotarsi	Extinct	Red rail fossils Broad-billed parrot fossils Mauritius owl fossils
Fulica newtoni	Milne-Edwards, 1867	Mascarene coot	Rallidae	Hip and leg bones	Extinct
Circus maillardi	J. Verreaux, 1862	Réunion harrier	Accipitridae	Tarsometatarsi, tibiae and metacarpals	Locally extinct
Lophopsittacus mauritianus	Owen, 1866	Broad-billed parrot	Psittaculidae	Skulls, mandibles, sternum, furcula, coracoids, humeri, ulnae, femora, tibiotarsi, carpometacarpus[10]	Extinct
Psittacula bensoni	Holyoak, 1973	Mascarene grey parakeet	Psittaculidae	Palatines[8]	Extinct
Raphus cucullatus	Linnaeus, 1758	Dodo	Columbidae	All skeletal elements known from the swamp	Extinct
Alectroenas nitidissima	Scopoli, 1786	Mauritius blue pigeon	Columbidae	Tarsometatarsus[11]	Extinct
Nesoenas mayeri	Prévost, 1843	Pink pigeon	Columbidae	Tarsometatarsus[8]	Endangered
Mascarenotus sauzieri	Newton & Gadow, 1893	Mauritius owl	Strigidae	Humerus, tibia, tarsus, unguals	Extinct
Phoenicopterus roseus	Pallas, 1811	Greater flamingo	Phoenicopteridae	Tarsometatarsus	Locally extinct

Reptiles

Reptiles reported from the Mare aux Songes
Species	Authority	Common name	Family	Material	IUCN status	Images
Cylindraspis inepta	Günther, 1873	Saddle-backed Mauritius giant tortoise	Testudinidae	Skulls, carapaces	Extinct	Skull of Cylindraspis sp. (8), Cylindraspis inepta (7), Cylindraspis triserrata (8) Mauritian giant skink fossils
Cylindraspis triserrata	Günther, 1873	Domed Mauritius giant tortoise	Testudinidae	Skulls, carapaces	Extinct
Phelsuma cf guimbeaui	Mertens, 1963	Orange-spotted day gecko	Geckoniidae	Humerus	N/A
Leiolopisma mauritiana	Günther, 1877	Mauritian giant skink	Scincidae	Mandibles, vertebrae	Extinct
Leiolopisma telfairii	Desjardins, 1831	Round Island skink	Scincidae	Humerus	Vulnerable
Typhlops cariei	Hoffstetter, 1946	Hoffstetter's worm snake	Typhlopidae	Seven trunk vertebrae	Extinct

Mammals

Mammals reported from the Mare aux Songes
Species	Authority	Common name	Family	Material	IUCN status	Images
Pteropus niger	Kerr, 1792	Mauritian flying fox	Megachiroptera	Mandible	Endangered	Small Mauritian flying fox specimen Natal free-tailed bat type illustration
Pteropus subniger	Kerr, 1792	Small Mauritian flying fox	Megachiroptera	Mandible	Extinct
Mormopterus acetabulosus	Hermann, 1804	Natal free-tailed bat	Microchiroptera	Phalanges	Vulnerable
Taphozous mauritianus	Geoffroy, 1818	Mauritian tomb bat	Microchiroptera	Phalanges	Least concern

References

20°26′49″S 57°41′46″E / 20.447°S 57.696°E / -20.447; 57.696