The Mystery of New Zealand's only Native Land Mammal

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In new Zealand was thought to be a dominated by flightless birdswith only seals and bats making up its mammal population but 16 million years ago there lived a mammal. How did it get there? where did it come frome? what type of mammal was it?
Sources:
www.pnas.org/content/103/51/1...

[@wormthirtyfour]

poor little guy lived through the times of the dinosaurs just to get stuck on an island covered in more of them

[@victorviereck4117]

Well...... it was still covered in dinosaurs tbh. And still is.

[@martinplasse174]

@@victorviereck4117 that's what he's saying though...

[@ia285]

@@martinplasse174 almost. The following comment was just stating that birds ARE dinosaurs and NOT descendants of dinosaurs.

[@martinplasse174]

@@ia285 Oh right 👍

[@foxhound963]

@Tryin’ to stay high you mean descendents

[@NathanGTR34]

New Zealand was home to the largest eagle species to have ever existed :D The Haast's eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) is an extinct species of eagle that once lived in the South Island of New Zealand, commonly accepted to be the pouakai of Maori legend. It was the largest eagle known to have existed, with an estimated weight of 15 kilograms (33 lb), compared to the 9 kg (20 lb) harpy eagle. Its massive size is explained as an evolutionary response to the size of its prey ...

[@kyrab7914]

Weren't they a possible inspiration for the myth of the Roc as well?

[@zdavisss5646]

Further more, Māori people had stories of a man eating bird that stole babies that was often dismissed by early colonisers until they found the bones of one with story evidence that could not be dismissed

[@CHRB-nn6qp]

​@@BobCassidy Roc is arabic right?

[@eliscanfield3913]

That kiwi ancestor was adorable.

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Agreed

[@eljanrimsa5843]

If the kiwi ancestor was half their size, how did the giant eggs evolve?

[@RKM514]

Hobbits?

[@Daplin1]

@Paolo G it poops 30 percent of itself a day....

[@pedrogabrielduarte4544]

@@mothlightmedia1936 what is the name of that kiwi? and evolution of the manatee please

[@roadhigher]

I find it amazing how New Zealand before Human arrival was the last place on earth ruled by Dinosaurs, with practically every other landmass being dominated by mammals.

[@StoneE4]

I don't see New Zealand as being much different than any other landmass in this regard. Due to the prevalence (and sheer number) of birds throughout the planet I'm comfortable with saying that most landmasses are still dominated by dinosaurs.

[@finn54123]

StoneE4 well I wouldn’t say dominated, I mean sure there r quite a few. But they definitely aren’t as dominant as they were in NZ.

[@StoneE4]

@@finn54123 - In terms of prevalence and numbers, it doesn't really matter what you would or wouldn't say, birds dominate mammals in those categories. If you disagree I'd recommend you do an experiment... Go for a walk around your neighborhood and count the total number of birds and the total number of mammals you see. I'll bet your numbers will be heavily skewed towards the birds no matter what ecological biome you live in.

[@vituzui9070]

@@StoneE4 In terms of prevalence and numbers, then yes. But if we look at the food chain (which is what we have often in mind when we speak about dominance of some species over others), then we see that the top is occupied almost everywhere by mammals.

[@glenbe4026]

@@StoneE4 You seem to have an interesting definition of "dominate". How did you come to this definition? I have never seen someone define "dominate" as a synonym of "outnumber" before?

[@thecurrentmoment]

It is thought that penguins probably evolved in NZ, we have some of the oldest penguin fossils

[@DavidFMayerPhD]

It appears that you are correct. It would be easy to think that the evolution of penguins took place in Antarctica, but this does not seem to be the case. From the fossils found, it is more likely that the first true penguins developed on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, in an area called Waipara. They conclude this because the oldest fossil fragments have been found precisely in New Zealand. www.penguins-world.com/penguin-evolution/

[@hangfire5944]

David, it is not easy for anyone to think that the evolution of penguins took place in Antarctica.

[@darianstarfrog]

We also had a six foot tall penguin too

[@prestigev6131]

@@DavidFMayerPhD It’s still very possible they did evolve in Antarctica. The frozen continent’s fossil record is very small because it’s buried underneath the ice. It’s entirely possible that penguins and many other animals originally evolved in Antarctica but there just isn’t any concrete evidence of that yet

[@slamyourheadin9449]

@@prestigev6131 nah they definitely evolved in New Zealand. Why else would they be flightless lol

[@rustyspurs771]

(A flightless bat runs into a rat for the first time) "so... this is how it ends then."

[@Moondog911]

Convergent evolution

[@pepesylvia848]

A human space shuttle is intercepted by a flying saucer. "Well fuck."

[@rustyspurs771]

haha, great analogy my friend.

[@kaikouraickk7044]

It's a shame that new Zealand's only terrestrial mammals went extinct, it would have been awesome to see those mouse-like mammals in the present day and it would've have added to new Zealand's already amazing fauna

[@uncannyvalley2350]

The only reason we have that unique fauna is due to the absence of mammals, since their arrival most native species are now endangered

[@dubbixdub4376]

@@uncannyvalley2350 How come bats didn't diversify and fill in roles that were previously occupied on the mainland

[@uncannyvalley2350]

@@dubbixdub4376 several reasons, but mainly because the landmass was submerged as recently as 360,000 years ago, they simply haven't had enough time to evolve, also there would need to be opportunities orb pressures to spur the change, I'm not sure they needed to do anything different as their prey would've been readily available without the need to adapt, also birds already occupied most of those niches

[@dubbixdub4376]

@@uncannyvalley2350 Oh, ok Thanks

[@AnnaMarianne]

@@uncannyvalley2350 But if you had small native mammals, your birds would have developed different habits to take that into consideration, and then perhaps would have been less affected by the arrival of humans. For example, so many small bird species wouldn't be nesting on the ground despite being capable of nesting in trees. Moas might have had stronger eggs, which would have been more predation-proof, and who knows if we would then have a moa relict population in Fjordland.

[@stewartlee8858]

Banks Peninsula was a volcanic island cluster separate from the South Island. The Canterbury Plains slowly formed from erosion. Cook thought it was and island though and charted it as such (fun fact). The Southern Alps are still growing so I'm guessing NZ was a lot smaller than what it is today. Great video.

[@hugebigpenis1]

Yea Zealandia has had. Many periods of growth and loss for its land mass. Though we know that it never fully sank beneath the wavesjust likely became a collection of islands.

[@fpcooper95]

You have a voice that is very easy to pay attention to, glad I found your channel!

[@theharris7207]

I am so glad to see this channel still growing

[@Paleos1000]

The total submergence theory does not hold water (er, pun not intended) imho as it seems unlikely Tuatara would be that keen on rafting, flying or swimming.

[@raklibra]

Hamish Hudson if anything I believe it was the opposite, New Zealand was much larger and had more land exposed (Zealandia). But there was a submergence , and lost land and habitat devastated some animals. This means there should be fossils under the sea around NZ.

[@stoneageart9965]

@@raklibra Sea levels rose over 100 meters at the end of the ice age,however this story predates that time by 30 million years.So it has been both higher and lower than current times.

[@michaelmccarthy4077]

"the penguins swam here from Antarctica" No, Penguins are believed to have evolved on New Zealand first and spread out from there.

[@shauntempley9757]

Yeah. We even have penguin species that never left. They live in the forest when nesting.

[@coltonbates629]

No is a strong word my friend.

[@pepesylvia848]

No, since I believe penguins evolved in Paleolithic Sicily. See: Danny Devito

[@danielscott-worth1911]

I believe it is thought that penguins evolved in nz, spread out to other countries, became extinct in nz and then repopulated nz from species that spent some time evolving in other countries

[@nothingnobody1454]

@@danielscott-worth1911 The Great Penguin Diaspora

[@georgefleming4956]

Great upload! I'm old and a nature nut, but never realized New Zealand lacked terrestrial mammals. Can't wait to use that bit of trivia, 😂

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Glad you enjoyed the video

[@justmyusername9209]

Only historically, plenty of them now.

[@stephenlitten1789]

@Edward Gross Yep. And wallabies, and stoats, weasels, ferrets, rabbits, rats.....

[@thecurrentmoment]

They do have bats that are alive today

[@basedmailman4227]

@@thecurrentmoment yup we have 2 out of 3 species left so only one extinct

[@jeffczermanski2993]

I just found your channel, sorry. Please keep making these videos. Your videos are great and the subject is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

[@mothlightmedia1936]

No worries and I'm glad you enjoyed it

[@connlaffan6232]

Thanks for the fascinating video Moth Light .

[@martink9701]

Great quality stuff I agree

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Thank you

[@THEchiQ]

We don’t pluralise Māori bird names with S. One moa, two moa, three kiwi. The only time we do add S with kiwi is when using it to refer to NZ humans, and we capitalise in that case. The Kiwis took photos of several kiwi. Also, kākāpō isn’t pronounced kokapoh. It’s kaa kaa po, rhyming with “car car pour” with silent Rs.

[@mrs.schmenkman]

Meh..in English we do.

[@setablaze1802]

@@mrs.schmenkman yeah, but the names for these species are maori, and therefore those language conventions take priority when referring to those animals.

[@slamyourheadin9449]

@@mrs.schmenkman meh... don’t be a dick.

[@RafProductions3]

Stfu

[@Threezi04]

@@setablaze1802 not really how loan words work

[@exmachinz]

Just a small note: Maori nouns are their own plural i.e. one moa, two moa, one kiwi, two kiwi etc

[@exmachinz]

Keep in mind that the word "kiwi" to describe a New Zealander is a loanword so the sentence "kiwis helping kiwi" is correct if you are talking about New Zealanders trying to preserve the bird.

[@exmachinz]

Also kiwis never refer to the fruit as a kiwi, but as a kiwifruit

[@MerkhVision]

While that’s good to know, wouldn’t words borrowed into English like those u mentioned then follow English grammar regarding plurals? It gets really crazy really fast if every loan word retained the grammar of its original language. Then again we sometimes try to keep the plural rules of other loan words from languages like Greek too, but it’s inconsistent. I get the idea of keeping some of the source languages rules out of respect for its origin, but I’m just curious if there’s any linguistic backing for doing so as well.

[@PondScummer]

@@MerkhVision the Maori words aren't loanwords, it's a still living language in NZ and maori would prefer if their language wasn't 'colonized' further. In NZ we also don't pronounce them with the s at the end anyway, people would look at you weird if you did.

[@stoneageart9965]

@@PondScummer Then dont use borrow words,create your own words.After all borrow English words is culture theft,Maori do not need to steal english words ..do they ?

[@velocinaci]

hope you get the recognition you deserve! great videos

[@dougthedonkey1805]

Your videos are so calming

[@cadams1607]

The tunnel web spider (relative of the Australian funnel web spider also managed to survive the split from Australia to the present day.

[@PaulG.x]

As did the Katipo , a close relative to the Black Widow and Red Back. however, spiderlings are notorious for getting blown long distances on silk parachutes.

[@pocketmarcy6990]

@@PaulG.x spiderlings is just such a funny word to me

[@charlethemagne5466]

Really makes you wonder that if left alone for some time, maybe we would have seen giant Kias roaming the forest floor like a large grazer. Maybe even large carnivore birds would have evolved. Probably won't see that anymore with the introduction of mammals to the island along with human habitation.

[@nigelworters3667]

We have giant "kias" (kea) roaming the forest floor, they are called kakapo. The world's largest and only flightless parrot. And we had carnivorous birds, including the world's largest raptor, Haasts Eagle as well as others. Btw, NZ bird names are almost entirely in Maori, and there is no S in Maori. Plural is conveyed by context and describes rather than noun. Example: Te is the, single Nga is the, plural Te Kea is one bird, Nga Kea are many

[@timlatte8302]

If nz dont have it we import it, rats mice rabbits deer possum wallabies covid

[@votedvomit]

I’m from New Zealand and you just got a subscriber

[@kanealoha]

Really enjoyed this one. Thanks!

[@uncannyvalley2350]

Hello from New Zealand 🤭

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Hi

[@paradiseviews1533]

Kia ora

[@NOAH-um7go]

Hi also from new Zealand

[@jameskung9808]

Brother, where are you from

[@barneylenihan9856]

New Zealand? Hello from Aotearoa you mean.....

[@kianbautista1016]

I’ve lived there, birds are everywhere.

[@banjopete]

@Ramsay Snow ,🤣

[@JoeJoeTheCapybara]

Fantastic video! It would have been awesome if New Zealand was colonized by bats instead of birds.

[@mothlightmedia1936]

That would be awsome

[@wolfy8006]

imagine going on a island and there are giant blood sucking bats ... Omg ...

[@pufuletz8576]

No.

[@thecurrentmoment]

There are bats, one of which is the only bat in the world to fold its wings up and walk around on the ground on all four legs

[@trezapoioiuy]

Imagine bats taking up all of the niches currently taken by birds ahah. Including "penguin" bats.

[@jeffreyliddicoat1364]

Very informstive ... keep up the good work

[@sagacious03]

Neat video! Thanks for uploading!

[@paiwanhan]

Amazing video. Fascinating story that I've never heard of before.

[@raysmith7543]

I really enjoy your videos!

[@airatakhsaka]

I learn so much from this channel

[@RileyRampant]

fascinating to see a mammal lineage distinct from monotremes, marsupials, and placentals ! Probably a living fossil from gondwana that persisted thru the miocene.

[@jasonali4122]

This is an excellent presentation. Super visuals and basically sound presentation of the science that underpins it. My one gripe is the idea that the mammal's ancestors could not have over-water dispersed to NZ. To provide context, in the last 4-5 million years, three land mammal clades have established themselves on both the Galapagos Islands and Christmas Island, and the journeys for 5 of them were at least 930 km. The exception, the Christmas Island shrew, came from Java and its passage was c. 300 km. Relevant publications are: Ali J.R. & Fritz, U. Accepted May 2021. Origins of the Galápagos’ land-bound vertebrates: what, whence, when, how. Biol. Jour. Linnean Soc., DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blab085. Ali, J.R., Aitchison, J.C. & Meiri, S. 2020. Redrawing Wallace’s Line based on the fauna of Christmas Island, eastern Indian Ocean. Biol. Jour. Linnean Soc., 130, 225-237.

[@oftin_wong]

Excellent, you covered all the bases

[@glenngilbert7389]

Good channel with a lot of original research

[@pineapplesideways3820]

Not, kiwis and sheep interbeed many years ago that's how they outlived the dinosaurs, only country on earth that's let people marry sheep

[@flyingflowers1889]

What ​@@pineapplesideways3820

[@WILDMUTTDude]

I have heard of the St Bathans Mammal before, but I wasn't expecting to hear about a giant terrestrial bat in the same vídeo. It was a nice surprise indeed ^^

[@rossr100]

I live less than an hours drive from Bannockburn and St Bathans and - who knew! Fascinating, thanks for the video.

[@mymatemacca]

Love ya videos man

[@nian89]

Great video :)

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Thank you

[@corro202]

Great video.

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Thank you

[@veggieboyultimate]

Maybe he could not be the only one, remember Zealandia used to be above water but sank, so maybe there could be more mammals out there, it’s just that we probably won’t be able to find the fossils since they sank in the ocean too. So the St. Bathans mammal could have just been the only survivor of a land where it used to have some mammals.

[@hugebigpenis1]

Likely he isn't the only species. Only a few percent of all species fossilised and Zealandia just didn't have the situation to make many fossils, also whilst Zealandia did since it likely never fully sank beneath the waves and just became a collection of islands.

[@paul3345]

Super video, thanks

[@ias400]

Great video, thanks. A question: if this mammal's family separated from most other mammals (marsupial and placental) before they became 2 families, what is the relationship (of all 3 lines) to the monotremes, and what does this say about mammalian family tree in general? And I should probably be referring to genera instead of families. Again thanks for this and the other videos you have posted.

[@mothlightmedia1936]

Thank you and they're very distantly related. Marsupials and placentals split about 160 million years ago and monotremes split about 190 million years or even longer ago. There are lots of famous mammals that lived alongside the dinosaurs that are more closely related to us then monotremes. On this link if you go down to earliest crown mammals it shows their relation. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_mammals

[@ias400]

@@mothlightmedia1936, thanks for the info and the link.

[@stephenlitten1789]

@@mothlightmedia1936 There is a clade of mammals called metatheria, which includes marsupials and a whole pile of extinct beasties known mostly from South and North America. It's possible the St Bathans mammal is one of these.

[@juanjoyaborja.3054]

It is possible that St. Bathan’s mammal was a Multituberculate. They were a vast group of mammals, which split off from placental mammals and marsupials a long time after Monotremes did. They persisted till about 35 million years ago in the fossil record, but one tiny subset may have been lingering on to New Zealand before eventually going extinct too.

[@alliebean3235]

a small note on the bird names - because they're Māori names their plural form doesn't have an 's' on the end; the plural of Kiwi is Kiwi, the plural of Moa is Moa /gen

[@Big_Un]

3:20 So if this animal is not considered to be placental, marsupial, or monotreme, what's left? Those terms all refer to how offspring are produced. What is it's classification?

[@Hate_wagon]

Great video

[@roberttauzer7042]

This was soo interesting!

[@grandmasteryoda6717]

Gondwana must've been fascinating place. Greetings from across the pond, South America.

[@domainofthesun4400]

Fascinating! Thank you!

[@georgelane6350]

Great video. It's nice to see that you have actually looked into the correct pronunciation of Maori names too as many people.butcher the words

[@karenness5588]

What a good job, thank you.

[@PANDABEARHUGS33]

I do like the video. Good job

[@Sara3346]

I wouldn't call modern montremes primitive only basal. (Since primitive could make someone think they are unchanged or altogether simpler than any others.) I sincerely doubt for example that electroreception or venom spurs were ancestral traits of mammals and it's worth noting that Echidnas are very intelligent for their weight class.

[@Minish4rk360]

venom spurs are very likely to be a basal trait of all mammals. almost all non-therian mammals had one, and even non mammalian mammaliaformes had one.

[@omarb7164]

@@Minish4rk360 I know it was a while ago you commented, but what does basal mean in this sense? And how is it different from primitive? Are basal traits those that were inherited from earlier ancestor classes?

[@Minish4rk360]

@@omarb7164 yeah, thats what it means. basal and primitive are kind of interchangable, but "primitive" came from the times when people thought that evolution was just evolving into greater forms, so basal is the correct word.

[@stephenleblanc4677]

Great stuff.

[@lesliesylvan]

Fascinating . . . Thank you!

[@eliletts1680]

I feel like the St. Bathans mammal could be a relative of a mammalian New Zealand cryptid known as the waitoreke.

[@AM-yi4dd]

Crazy about the bats. Good video 👍🏼

[@aditghifari5039]

To make every flying creature to become land dwellers, The gravity in New Zealand sure heavy.

[@banjopete]

,no reason to fly.

[@badartgallery9322]

Marathon Moth Light while snowed in driveway blocked. Excellent day.

[@lordpickle8424]

Huh, I had no idea New Zealand was that far from Australia. Very surprising.

[@MerryMohProductions]

Man, imagine if Zealandia existed as it's own continent and how mammals could've evolved into the holocene.

[@Solace6428]

Okay I never thought of it but we have/had some damn cool native animals here

[@SenseiRaichuss]

The latest findings on Zealandia continent are putting that Gondwana split into question.

[@tangifrangi1215]

I guess the perk from being from a small country is that we feel so stoaked to be mentioned literally anywhere haha Kia ora!

[@italucenaz]

I feel so bad about the nowadays fauna of New Zeland, a good portion of their unique species are now extinct or endangered because humans put everything animal wanted there

[@danielcornwall1585]

I'm pretty sure penguins evolved in New Zealand from flighted ancestors and then radiated out into the Southern Hemisphere from there

[@finn54123]

Daniel Cornwall huh, I didn’t know that,

[@danielcornwall1585]

@@finn54123 Funnily enough I've since found a video on this very channel mentioning that fact. I guess he forgot?

[@darianstarfrog]

Our first penguins were six feet tall.. sooo.. .work that one out!

[@devinarnold2931]

These videos are so good but the audio balancing makes it hard to pay attention sometimes

[@joesventures]

Great video but along with the velvet worms, frogs and tuatara a lot of birds like Kea,Kaka and Kakapo, New Zealand wrens and Moas were more basal to their groups, having a gondwanaian origan and not coming from asia and ausralia

[@MrMerciless67]

A bat that evolved to walk on the ground ? 😳

[@lowqualitypranks3152]

Dang we really just lost a 4th type of mammal recently and didn't even know it 😔

[@dylanb4494]

Speculative at best. Without a full skeleton its just fanfiction.

[@Koraxus]

there are documentations of far more than 4 types of mammals. look up multituberculates, dryolestida, eutriconodonta, fruitafossor, etc..

[@dondragmer2412]

@@dylanb4494 A "full" skeleton" is not always necessary. Just enough to establish enough as something new and unique.

[@isaacbruner65]

@@dylanb4494 we rarely have a full skeleton, most ancient mammals are known only from a jawbone

[@basicpigeonbee]

Oh hey! I was in St Bathans recently

[@allgood6760]

Very interesting.. thanks 👍🇳🇿

[@DavidFMayerPhD]

I am amused by those who think that New Zealand is "near" Australia. The air distance (ignoring small islands belonging to either) is 2,156 Kilometers. By comparison, the air distance is 1180 km from New York City to Chicago. Is New York "near" Chicago?

[@Dunkleosteusenjoyer]

We're close to Jupiter if your scale is big enough. 'Close' is not an exact distance. Just like how you're smart for an animal but stupid for a person.

[@andrewbogle3350]

DavidFMayerPhD . I’ve read that if New Zealand was placed on the map of Europe it would extend from London to Athens. In the 1980s I flew from Paris to Moscow and was astonished at how short the flight was. Europe is actually quite compact. To get from Auckland to Sydney by air takes about three hours. We are not close neighbours with Australia and the geography and fauna of Australia might just as well be on another planet for New Zealanders, it is just so different ( plike their accents😂).

[@DavidFMayerPhD]

@@andrewbogle3350 New Zealand is about 1,600 kilometers the long way. By comparison, the air distance between Paris and Moscow is 2486 kilometers, about 50% longer than the Paris-Moscow distance. Air distance from London to Athens is 1,486 kilometers, which is less than length of New Zealand.

[@mikesaunders4775]

@@DavidFMayerPhD The air distance between London and Athens is 1488 MILES, well over 2000 kilometers, quite a bit more than the length of New Zealand.

[@DavidFMayerPhD]

You got me.

[@Nazrigar]

That's pretty amazing. Shame that unlike its other living fossil relatives it didn't survive to the present days. Imagine that? Having the last non-bird link to the age of the dinosaurs!

[@Alanixs2242]

Wait thats not how that works??

[@anonb4632]

Waitoreke

[@anonb4632]

Certain tree, fish and insect species are little changed from that time.

[@Nazrigar]

@Pleoryo Ah! I think a more proper term would be: non-sauropsid mammal order that gives us a glimpse of out ancestors as they were in the past.

[@nigelworters3667]

Tuatara....

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

Aaaah, you slipped up at the start and now I know where you're from. :) Before, I'd've said you sounded Australian, but now I know better. :D

[@sealofapoorval7437]

If you are implying that he has a New Zealand accent then either you haven't heard a New Zealander speak or my life has been a lie

[@xoxb2]

There's nothing even remotely antipodean about the guy's accent - he's English.

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

@@sealofapoorval7437 No I'm saying he referred to New Zealand as "here" with barely any outside context. In other vids he very noticeably didn't refer to places like Madagascar that way. If that even means anything, he could just as easily be an aussie or brit living abroad. Only ever heard a genuine NZ accent once, a long time ago. I have heard some Australians who could easily be mistaken for brits, though.

[@sealofapoorval7437]

@@SplotchTheCatThing oh I see that's a genuine mistake. In general though he doesn't sound Australian or New Zealander. I would suggest looking up these accents in KZbin so you know the difference. Take it easy !

[@andresmith1191]

I love how he didn't mention the gigantic patch of Gondwana which became Africa

[@ericmueller6836]

He also did not mention New Caladonia, as it was pertinent to the video's content. Ommission does not equate to obfuscation

[@minecraftlover1168]

i live in new zealand, i love anything to do with animal hystery and old plants. i have seen whetas and kiwi up close. also there is a rare chance there will be born a white kiwi everytime the kiwi lays an egg. its something to do with genetics. also i never knew there was more of new zealand underwater...

[@touyube2470]

Glad to see young people are still interested in wildlife. One small correction though, ahh "hystery"? Lol come on dude *history*

[@minecraftlover1168]

@@touyube2470 oops sorry i sometimes type too fast

[@iamrocketray]

With so many birds around the poor little thing didn't have a chance, I bet it wasn't a prolific breeder so eventually got over predated.

[@freppie_]

My left ear enjoyed this vid

[@pim4686]

What if New Zealand was not completely submerged, like you said, but was not attached to the main land of Gondwana either? Meaning it would be small islands just outside the coast. It could explain that tuataras did actually drift to the islands on vegetation rafts and it would also cover the lack of major mammal populations. Anyway, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm some scientist. Just speculating further on the information you gave here :)

[@hugebigpenis1]

Evidence shows Zealandia never fully sank, it went through phases and of rising and sinking but the current theory leaves it with islands just becuase the evidence of complete submergeance isn't there. Ghosts of Gondwanna is a good book with plenty of information showing why it's a myth that Zealandia sank fully beneath the waves.

[@Rosie-dm7dv]

pleeeease i need a video on tuataras and the extinct members of their family! such a cool creature

[@trezapoioiuy]

It's worth mentioning that not only birds and bats are flightless in NZ, but the same is true for Tuataras.

[@caniform-craze2080]

Yes Rhynchocephalians do indeed deserve more attention.

[@darianstarfrog]

Interstingly. .the tuatara..has a very pronounced inner third eye, complete with the rods and cones of normal eyes..

[@Gasmaskmax]

@@trezapoioiuy lmao

[@PondScummer]

@@darianstarfrog I don't know why that fact is always mentioned with the tuatara since it isn't unique to them. Many other reptiles, fish and amphibians have a parietal eye. The one the Tuatara has isn't any more or less developed than theirs either.

[@anonb4632]

No one's mentioned the waitoreke. It is even said the Maori domesticated some of them.

[@andrew7955]

They're mythical

[@garygreen2146]

Andrew when Haast was looking for mineral deposits in the South Island for the colonial government he was given a pelt by Maori near Queenstown. Sadly the pelt was lost about 50 years later. So not a myth. Just not well documented

[@oftin_wong]

@@garygreen2146 that's called anecdotal evidence and it's not evidence ...its just anecdotal Big difference

[@dondragmer2412]

@@garygreen2146 "Myth" is not necessarily a synonym for something untrue though now the word is regrettably used almost exclusively in that meaning. Myths often have a core of truth. It would be better to use "fiction," or "lie" or "falsehood."

[@PondScummer]

it's a cryptid

[@tams1417]

My Thoery Is, The Saint Bathans Mammal Must Have Came From Aussie, But Before Heading To New Zealand It Must Have Headed To An Island Close To New Zealand, Evolving Till It Became Its Own Species, And Then Something Catastrophic Must Have Happened To The Island, The Island Started To Become Unstable, It Started To Be Flooded Like The Island Tuvalu, Most Of The Mammals Died In The Flood And We're Brought Under With The Island, (This Would Explain Why It didn't Resemble Any Mammal Directly) Some Would Survive But Would Soon Be Swept Away In A Current, The Current Would Take Them To New Places, (Like How The Marine Iguanas Travel From Island To Island In The Galapagos), The Only Island they Landed On Was New Zealand, Most Likey They Could Barely Adapt To The Surroundings As They Would Have Never Have Encountered A Place So Diverse, They Probably Didn't Do That Well, Other Mammals We Have Released Into New Zealand Has Adapted Quite Well, Such As The Ring Tailed Possum, Further More (I Just Guess They Didn't Last Long), The Mammal Looked Like Some Type Of Shrew, Having A Long Nose, Also In The Video The Animals Would Have Bones Like That Of The Echidna, These Animals Eat Bug's, So Most Likey These Animals Would Have Eaten Bugs, But In A Place Where Bugs Where Sort After By Most Of The Birds, Not To Mention They Wouldn't Have Done Well In A Foreign Place, They Would Soon Go Extinct Later On.

[@kimbratton9620]

Wow!

[@pocketmarcy6990]

New Zealand was also one of the last few places settled by humans, only being discovered less than a thousand years ago

[@oliver8928]

Brilliant. I'm fascinated by the totally lost Antarctican terrestrial fauna. This little mammal whatever it was might be the closest thing we have yet to a window into it. It would make for a interesting but very short video - as it only likely died out a few million years ago. Thoughts?

[@Sara3346]

Being able to maybe find more of Antarctica's lost fauna, might be one of the only good things come out of global warming.

[@lightningboltt5437]

Can you do an episode on the evolution of the lamprey and hagfish

[@taiko1237]

So sad how the long-tailed bat was new zealand BIRD of the year 2021

[@duhduhvesta]

Is there two Godwanas? Like the pre/post Pangaea?

[@plasmanplays6150]

As a new zealander for some reason when our country is mentioned I get happy like "hey look its me!"

[@BigBoiRedFrog]

Australia and New Zealand have interesting history and wonderful animals!

[@dancook6947]

What is the closest point between Australia and New Zealand? Closest point to Australia The shortest distance from New Zealand territory to Australian territory is from Auckland Island to Macquarie Island - a distance of approximately 617 kilometres (383 mi).

[@bjornekholmeriksson5080]

Pro app trix. Lovely

[@doglover31418]

Good video. Have you done equivalent ones for 'how did foxes get to Falkland Isles?' or 'How did monkeys get to S America?'

[@chrisstaylor8377]

I didn’t know this.

[@cptgibbs4256]

What a strange part of the world Australia and new Zealand is. I'd love to visit

[@kevinansley7353]

I have a fossil of what appears to be a terestrial predators scat. It is in limestone on chert and 20 to 28 million years old. Photos if you want.

[@operandwriter]

I'm guessing that lineage of mammals went extinct after being outcompeted by birds.

[@projectwilkreatssecondaccl3423]

lol!!!!

[@dondragmer2412]

Could have been, but not enough fossil evidence exists to show that. Competition as a factor of extinction is notoriously difficult to establish.

[@shannonparkhill5557]

I don't get how such a mammal would not have flourished and evolved a myriad of new mammal species, but rather it went extinct?!

[@Archie0pteryx]

D: Who had hour whole ecutenas in their yard there is no justice in this world Thanks for your videos!