Kiwi bird could have Australian roots, says expert after fossil discovery
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Version 0 of 1. The kiwi, the flightless bird considered emblematic of all things New Zealand, may have originated from a tiny creature that flew across from Australia, new research suggests. Findings set to be published in the proceedings of the eighth international meeting of the Society of Avian Palaeontology and Evolution challenge the long-held theory that the kiwi evolved from the moa, a species of huge, flightless bird endemic to New Zealand. A palaeontologist, Dr Trevor Worthy, of South Australia’s Flinders University, found a fossil of an ancestor to the kiwi at St Bathans in central Otago in 2011. The fossil, along with one found a year previously, comprises a skull bone and femur from an animal that lived 20m years ago. The animal was about a third the size of a modern kiwi and would have been able to fly, Worthy said. This ability, along with DNA evidence that closely links the kiwi to the Australian emu, suggests the kiwi ancestor originated in Australia before making the journey across the Tasman Sea. Worthy said the length of genetic divergence from the emu suggested the kiwi ancestor would have arrived in New Zealand a few million years before the fossilised animal died. “It possibly only lost its wings in the last 10m years,” he told Guardian Australia. “We’re not sure because in terms of fossils we have the dinosaurs, this site from 20m years ago and then bones from 1m years ago. This is mainly because New Zealand is such a geologically active country. “The femur bone in the fossil is critical as it indicates the size of the bird. Because it was so tiny, it’s very unlikely it would have been flightless. The birds that stayed in Australia became open plains wanderers, emus, while the ones in New Zealand became kiwis, deep forest nocturnal creatures.” The theory is not conclusive – Worthy said he needed to find wing bones before the flying ability of the kiwi ancestor was confirmed. New Zealanders concerned that Australians would appropriate the kiwi – as has happened with Phar Lap, the pavlova and Crowded House – should rest easy, Worthy said. “The ancestor may have come from Australia, but it then developed into the kiwi,” he said. “It probably didn’t even look like a kiwi, or an emu. It probably looked more like a chicken.” Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |