NewZealand was initially administered as a part of the colony of New South Wales, and it became a separate colony in November 1840.
NewZealand was one of the first to join the Allies when it declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, along with France, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada after the invasion of Poland.
NewZealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy.
List of extinct animals: Just the facts...(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
List of extinctanimals of the United States (additional info and facts about List of extinctanimals of the United States)
NewZealand (An independent country within the British Commonwealth; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1907; known for sheep and spectacular scenery), incomplete list
Coelacanth (Fish thought to have been extinct since the Cretaceous Period but found in 1938 off the coast of Africa), captured Dec 21 1938, thought to be a Rock Cod, but known to native peoples in Indonesia and other locations.
NewZealand's greatest biological loss is 42 percent of its' terrestrial birds since human settlement 700 years ago.
It became extinct in 1907 after extensive hunting for collections and its tail feathers, which were in great demand due to an international fashion of wearing them in hats.
It was the only animal predator of moa, diving on them at a speed of 80 kph and crushing and piercing the moa's neck with talons the size of tiger's claws.
Although it used to be thought that numbers were declining before the impact of humans, their extinction is now attributed entirely to hunting and forest clearance by the Polynesian ancestors of Māori, who had settled NewZealand a few hundred years earlier.
The kiwi was once regarded as a close relative of the Moa, but comparisons of their DNA suggest it is more closely related to the Australian emu and cassowary.
Though there is no reasonable doubt that the Moa is extinct, there has been occasional speculation that some may still exist in deepest south Westland, a rugged wilderness in the South Island of NewZealand.
Bell, B.D. A review of the status of NewZealand Leiopelma species (Anura: Leiopelmatidae), including a summary of demographic studies in Coromandel and on Maud Island.
Gill, B. Osteometry and systematics of the extinctNewZealand ravens (Aves: Corvidae: Corvus).
Worthy, T.H. The Quaternary fossil avifauna of Southland, South Island, NewZealand.
Gill, B. Osteometry and systematics of the extinctNewZealand ravens (Aves: Corvidae: Corvus).
NewZealand ravens were the largest crows in the Australasian region, and the Chatham Islands raven was probably the world's fourth- or fifth-largest passerine.
NewZealand ravens were strong fliers with no reduction in flying ability compared to weak-flying NewZealand birds like the kokako.
www.nzes.org.nz /hotscience/g.html (466 words)
Encyclopedia: List of extinct animals(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
See also List of extinctanimals of the British Isles, List of extinctanimals of Lithuania.
See also List of extinctanimals of the British Isles This is a list of extinctanimals of the British Isles.
List of extinctanimals of the United States An incomplete list of extinctanimals of the United States.
The takahe was thought to be extinct as it had not been seen for 50 years, but Geoffrey Orbell rediscovered the takahe living in a remote Fiordland valley in 1948.
When Europeans arrived in NewZealand there were only a handful of recorded sightings in the North Island, but the laughing owl was frequently seen in the South Island.
Both Polynesians and Europeans brought animals to NewZealand, such as rats and stoats, that would have killed laughing owls and eaten their eggs and chicks.
The NewZealand Conservation Trust, a charitable organisation that was established in 1984, in order to achieve the conservation and educational goals, that made up the rationale for the Reserve's existence.
The Trust's role is to maintain the animals within its care, fund raise for, and promote conservation and educational projects, while linking with other organisations within NewZealand.
The NewZealand Conservation Trust at Willowbank works with many rare and endangered animals and birds in various breeding programmes to increase the populations and awareness of wildlife in strife.
HCPB-California's Plants and animals(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
There have been concerns that current attempts in NewZealand to rid areas of European rabbits could lead to increased damage to native wildlife, because rabbit predators, such as the ferret, might shift their feeding habitats and feed more heavily on native animals (see "Prey Shifting").
Ferrets are listed among the carnivores of the island of Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is listed among the species of mammals recorded on the island of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands and is included in the list of mammals of Spain and Portugal.
The 2004 Red List reveals that all major animal and plant groups are affected, with growing human populations causing much of the damage
For the first time, the Red List includes numerical indices showing how the threatened status of particular groups of organisms, such as birds, is changing overall.
If you are in the UK please click here, if you are in Australia or NewZealand please click here.
Trees are currently being removed 10 times faster than new growth and in the sea 70% of fish species are being harvested faster than the rate at which they can reproduce.
Australia is a good example where the natural animal and plant life developed on an isolated continent and produced numerous unique species.
Here is a list showing both the greater acceleration of extinction as a result of the expansion of human population and thankfully showing that at last we may have recognised our responsibilities as a species:
Biodiversity on the Chatham Islands of NewZealand - by Bruce Marcot.
NewZealand is gorgeous: a combination of the rolling hills and sheep of Scotland, the snow-capped craggy mountains of Switzerland, and the fiords of Norway.
Birding NewZealand requires long treks between places, and often we would drive much of a day (through scenery that ranged from pleasant to downright spectacular) to a location that would add one or a few species to the trip list.
