New
Zealand birds evolved in isolation over millions of years. Unlike
elsewhere, there were no land mammals such as bears, badgers,
lions or goats. Free from attack and competition from mammals,
many birds became ground-dwellers. They were therefore natural
prey for humans and the predators they brought, and vulnerable
to land clearance. In New Zealand, European settlers noticed
the evidence for the extinction of the megafauna – moa
and other large birds – from around the late 1830s
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EXTINCT BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND
3.
THE WREN |
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THE WREN
Three of New Zealand's extinct wrens
were the only flightless songbirds, and the smallest
flightless birds in the world. Of the seven wren species,
only the rifleman and the rare rock wren of Fiordland
remain.
The New Zealand wrens are not true wrens, but are part
of the ancient eccentric Acanthisittidae family, that
look and behave similarly to the common wren. The tiny
New Zealand species do not have a close structural resemblance
to any other group of birds.
Wren arrived in New Zealand 40 million years ago during
the Cenozoic period, as windblown migrants from the
Australia-Antarctic segment of Gondwana, at about the
same time as the wattlebirds and the New Zealand thrush.
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The
remains of species including large extinct geese, adzebills,
and the giant Haast’s eagle, were discovered before the
end of the 19th century. Just how many smaller birds had become
extinct was not realised until after 1990, when the food remains
of the extinct laughing owl were discovered and analysed. Beneath
the owl’s former roosts in sheltered caves were layers
of bones of their prey, piled up over centuries. These bones
were evidence of the former abundance of birds such as saddlebacks,
now killed off on the mainland, and surviving only on predator-free
islands.
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TRAVEL
TO NEW ZEALAND - HOME OF LORD OF THE RINGS |
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