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15 Australian Birds (Episode 6)

10,000 Birds

.'” Tim Low (in “How Song Began”) gives a colorful description of Long-billed Corellas , stating that they “have drooping bills like witches’ noses” and explaining that “Their ‘noses’ are long because, like many mammals, they grub up juicy roots – or used to.”

Birds 147
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Acclimatisation Societies of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

They took dogs to Australia, chickens across the Pacific, rabbits to England, horses to the New World, and then brought potatoes back. A housecat in Buenos Aires got its start in Africa, a sheep in Australia to the Middle East, a chicken in Ireland can trace its origin to the jungles of Asia. Rabbits are still an agricultural pest.

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When conservation and animal rights collide

10,000 Birds

New Zealand has been the recipient of a higher than average number of introduced species, in particular a range of mammals from elk to mice. This is quite a big deal for an island group that had no mammals save bats for millions of years. This is a very serious business here in New Zealand.