Natural History

Birds of New Zealand

The birds of New Zealand evolved into an avifauna that included many endemic species found in no other country. As an island archipelago, New Zealand accumulated bird diversity. The mix includes species with unusual biology such as the kākāpō, which is the world's only flightless, nocturnal parrot and exhibits competitive display breeding using leks. There are also many species that are similar to neighbouring land areas. A process of colonisation, speciation and extinction has been at play over many millions of years, including recent times. Some species have arrived in human recorded history, while others arrived earlier but are little changed.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Charles Darwin
• ▸Calectasia intermedia
• ▸Agkistrodon laticinctus

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.