Perhaps you want a smiley for every day of the year or maybe a birthday smiley. For whatever reason these 12 mini monthly power trails are here to be found. Most are easily located, with an occasional sneaky one in the mix, sat lock can be difficult in some areas.
Here are some facts for this day. You are welcome to log your interesting, quirky or fun fact/s with your log.
On This Day - October 28th 2005
A Dutch-Mauritian research team discovers an intact layer of dodo bones, allowing for the first modern research into the extinct dodo.
The dodo was a flightless bird believed to be endemic to the island of Mauritius. Standing about a metre tall and weighing around 20kg, the dodo had only small, rudimentary wings which were useless for flight.
The dodo was first sighted by Dutch travellers, who originally referred to it by the name of "Walghvogel". This translated to "wallow bird" or "loathsome bird" because the early travellers who killed it for food found the meat to be tough, as they cooked it for too long. The dodo's existence was first recorded by vice-admiral Wybrand van Warwijck in 1598 and, eight years later, was described in more detail by Cornelis Matelief de Jonge.
Once the island of Mauritius was settled, dodo habitat was cleared, while new species were introduced, including dogs and pigs which killed the dodos, cats and rats which were a threat to the chicks, and Crab-eating Macaques, which ate the eggs of the dodo. Controversy surrounds the date the last dodo was sighted, but it was believed to have been between 1662 and 1690.
On 28 October 2005, a research team consisting of Dutch and Mauritian scientists uncovered the first known intact layer of dodo bones, along with botanical matter at a Mauritian sugar cane plantation. The find included the bones of adult birds and chicks, along with part of a beak. It also included the bones of other extinct bird species and some tortoise bones, all together in a mass grave which may possibly have been due to a natural disaster. The discovery opened the way for the first modern research into the dodo bird.