Magpies may not be a pesky Australian import – new research finds their ancestors thrived in NZ a long time ago
Magpies may not be a pesky Australian import – new research finds their ancestors thrived in NZ a long time ago
theconversation.com
Magpies may not be a pesky Australian import – new research finds their ancestors thrived in NZ a long time ago
The headline seems a stretch, considering their ancestors died out in Aotearoa millions of years ago, but it's still interesting history.
Yeah it does seem to imply they were already here when the article says otherwise. But I wonder if they meant that their ancestors were previously part of the ecosystem so they aren't as disruptive as we might assume (unlike, say, possums, that devastate forests in a way not seen in Australia).
Yeah maybe. I'm not really sure whether 5 million years is enough time for the rest of the ecosystem to have evolved for their absence in such a way that their return would be disruptive. It's a time frame long enough that I could think maybe it is, but short enough that I'd also not be too surprised to learn it isn't.