A subreddit for any news, information, artwork, and discussion about the Pleistocene epoch.
Extinct and Extant
Humans were the cause of its demise. It inhibited New Zealand’s South Island. It weighed up to 18 kg (40 lb).
Sort by:
Best
Open comment sort options
Best
Top
New
Controversial
Old
Q&A
![r/MapPorn - Area of New Zealand compared to the United States. [701x838]](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/graphics/areacomparison/NZ_area%202014.jpg)
![r/ArtefactPorn - Ancient Clay Figurine of a Boar. 9th Millennium BC (8000 BC), Tepe Sarab, Zagros Mountains, Iranian Neolithic. Museum of Ancient Iran. [896 x 605]](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/Ry9X3dro-CAzmzKrnqGd7Gg1jlDU_1ZT1vv5rCAhUPE.jpg)
New Zealand has some of the coolest wildlife
Yup and it would’ve had more if it wasn’t for us (as a whole I’m not being specific).
Here’s what you’re missing:
Moas (literally the only birds with no wings and some could get 10 feet tall)
Haast’s Eagle (the largest bird of prey in the Holocene).
Azdebills (giant duck-like birds that ate lizards, small birds, etc).
Flightless wrens
An Owlet-nightjar that filled the niche of a mouse
Ditto with the Greater Short-tailed Bat
A ton of other stuff
And probably even more if the Zealandia continental shelf hadn’t submerged 80 million years ago.
I was confused, because I thought this was a Cape Barren goose, but apparently they just look similar, or the paleoart is based on it. Cool picture either way!
It’s the latter as they’re closely related.
Note: Just noticed I misspelled inhabited. My apologies.
Shame, seems animals were a lot larger back then as well, certainly more megafaunal diversity.
They weren’t really bigger. There was just more megafauna. Remember, nearly all extant wild animal species also lived during the Pleistocene and some even earlier.
True, but it seems animals are getting smaller in modern times and most of their ancestors were larger.
Proof?
A Wilder View: A look at why animals are shrinking (kpax.com)
Although I do have one problem with the article I sent, they cite Bergmann's Rule and Dinos proved that theory to be false. Basically it states that in colder climates, animals tend to get larger and in hotter climates they tend to get smaller.
Cape barren goose could hypothetically evolve into a similar flightless form if introduced mammalian predators were to be eradicated in New Zealand.