Even though there are no complete preserved skeletons of the extinct flightless dodos, the NHMW owns a mounted skeleton with most of the bones intact. Dodos were endemic to the island of Mauritius and the last birds were recorded in 1688. The NHMW’s specimen most likely consists of more than one individual and was gifted to the museum in 1904 by Franz Steindachner. He was head of the zoological department and superintendent of the NHM from 1898 until his death in 1919. He also led an Austrian expedition to Brazil in 1903.