Dr Hume said the team had also found thousands of leaves, wood, pollen, tree and shrub seeds including the famous dodo tree (Tambalacoque), plus a large number of small land snails and insect parts.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Dodo skeleton find in Mauritius

Insect eyes differ fundamentally from animal eyes: the fly focuses light over a large radius through hundreds of separate facets, while animals focus it over a smaller radius through a single lens.

ECONOMIST: Genetic science