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Acclimatisation Societies of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

New Zealand has a very odd biota these days. They took dogs to Australia, chickens across the Pacific, rabbits to England, horses to the New World, and then brought potatoes back. So that New Zealand would end up with quite a few species of animal not originally found here is hardly surprising of itself.

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The Kookaburra, an Australian Icon

10,000 Birds

Here in New Zealand our shambolic exercise in not picking a new flag is becoming a) political and b) something that people will quickly stop paying attention to when the Rugby World Cup starts. At any rate goodbye Tony Abbott you awful terrible ghastly reprehensible and useless excuse for a human being.

Australia 158
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History repeating itself

10,000 Birds

If studying insects would lead you to suppose that God had an “an inordinate fondness for beetles&# , studying the pre-human avifauna of the Pacific would lead you to conclude that God was also quite partial to rails. The fossil record of the islands don’t show the Buff-banded Rail appearing until after humans arrived.

Tonga 165
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Use it or lose it?

10,000 Birds

Earlier this year a cyclone blew through New Zealand and uprooted a lot of native trees on government land on South Island. The focus of the Department of Conservation has seemingly been turned from conservation to extracting maximum economic benefit out of New Zealand’s large amount of conservation land.

Rhinos 169
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Parrots: Brazil’s Colorful Avian Clowns

10,000 Birds

Second, they occupy an astonishing variety of habitats from temperate Araucaria forests in Chile to alpine scree in New Zealand to seasonally flooded rainforests in Brazil to rocky sea cliffs in Australia. By contrast, Australia, often considered to be the land of parrots, has approximately 54 species.

Parrots 168
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Pieces of the New Zealand Puzzle

10,000 Birds

But today, briefly, let’s recall that I am supposed to be the New Zealand beat writer. I’m pleased to do this because two bits of the puzzle of New Zealand’s faunal history were in the news today, and besides, it means I don’t have to think about some tropical idyll in this miserable Antipodean winter day.

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The Emotional Lives of Animals

4 The Love Of Animals

Dogs are able to detect diseases such as cancer and diabetes and warn humans of impending heart attacks and strokes. In many ways, human emotions are the gifts of our animal ancestors. Dogs can differentiate dilutions of 1 part per billion, follow faint odor trails, and are 10,000 times more sensitive than humans to certain odors.

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