-797x638.jpg "New Zealand goose")
2-797x638.jpg "New Zealand goose")
1-797x638.jpg "New Zealand goose")
New Zealand goose
202103202103New Zealand geese,South Island goose (†Cnemiornis Owen 1866)
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Time period: pleistocene-holocene (South Island of New Zealand)
Size: more than 1,5 in height, 15-18 kg of weight
The New Zealand goose is a bird, endemic to New Zealand, consisted of two species: the North Island goose, C. gracilis and the South Island goose C. calcitrans.
This goose was as large as some small moa. The North Island species had 15 kg in body mass while the South Island species reached 18 kg, far surpassing Canada and Cape barren geese. They were flightless, with much-reduced webbing on the feet, an adaptation for terrestrial dwelling similar to that of the nene of Hawaii. They are usually considered most closely related to the Cape Barren goose of Australia.
They were never particularly common, and like many other large New Zealand endemic species they were subject to hunting pressures from the settling Polynesians, as well as predation upon their eggs and hatchlings by kiore, or the Polynesian rat and the settlers' dogs, and were extinct before the arrival of European settlers.
-70x56.jpg "4")
2-70x56.jpg "5")
1-70x56.jpg "6")
New Zealand geese,South Island goose (†Cnemiornis Owen 1866)
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Time period: pleistocene-holocene (South Island of New Zealand)
Size: more than 1,5 in height, 15-18 kg of weight
The New Zealand goose is a bird, endemic to New Zealand, consisted of two species: the North Island goose, C. gracilis and the South Island goose C. calcitrans.
This goose was as large as some small moa. The North Island species had 15 kg in body mass while the South Island species reached 18 kg, far surpassing Canada and Cape barren geese. They were flightless, with much-reduced webbing on the feet, an adaptation for terrestrial dwelling similar to that of the nene of Hawaii. They are usually considered most closely related to the Cape Barren goose of Australia.
They were never particularly common, and like many other large New Zealand endemic species they were subject to hunting pressures from the settling Polynesians, as well as predation upon their eggs and hatchlings by kiore, or the Polynesian rat and the settlers' dogs, and were extinct before the arrival of European settlers.
1-346x277.jpg "Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)")
