Surprisingly, only few additions to our knowledge of dodo anatomy, paleoecology and extinction have been made since Owen's 1866 seminal publication, a vast library of semi-popular works on the dodo notwithstanding.
His complex works often deal with subjects that comprehend time in a precise and sometimes extravagant manner: mineral exploitation and island geopolitics, climate science and neo-imperialism, theories of economy as much as paleoecology.