Calvaria major is a rare but once-abundant tree found on the island of Mauritius, which was also home to the dodo, a large flightless bird that became extinct about three centuries ago. In 1977 Stanley Temple, an ecologist whose investigation of Calvaria major was a sidelight to his research on endangered birds fertile but that Temple assumed could no longer germinate, given his failure to find younger trees.
The temporal coincidence between the extinction of the dodo and what Temple considered the last evidence of natural germination of Calvaria major seeds led him to posit a causal connection. Specifically, he hypothesized that the fruit of Calvaria major had developed its extremely thick-walled pit as an evolutionary response to the dodo’s once been adaptive, Temple maintained, became a lethal imprisonment for the seeds after the dodo vanished.
Although direct proof was unattainable, Temple did offer some additional findings in support of his hypothesis, which lent his argument a semblance of rigor. From studies of other birds, he estimated the abrasive force generated within a dodo’s gizzard. Based on this estimate and on test results determining the crush-resistant strength of abraded yet intact. Three of these sprouted when planted, which he saw as vindicating his hypothesis.
Though many scientists found this dramatic and intriguing hypothesis plausible, Temple’s proposals have been strongly challenged by leading specialists in the field. Where Temple had found only thirteen specimens of Calvaria major, Wendy Strahm, the foremost expert on the plant ecology of Mauritius, has identified hundreds, many far younger than three centuries. disease and damage done by certain nonindigenous animals introduced onto Mauritius in the past few centuries.
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