On the Destruction of the Aborigines of Chatham Island

Travers, William B.

doi:10.2307/3014299

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“…Since then, there has been considerable confusion over the diversity and taxonomic identity of the members of Strigopoidea that once inhabited the Chatham Islands, and these questions remain largely unresolved. Early reports that kakapo had once occurred on the Chatham Islands (Travers, ) were propagated for several years (e.g. Hutton, ; Buller, ), but were subsequently shown to be based on erroneous accounts and three mislabelled bones (Travers & Travers, ; Dawson, ; Millener, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An extinct nestorid parrot (Aves, Psittaciformes, Nestoridae) from the Chatham Islands, New Zealand

et al. 2014

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We describe an extinct parrot from late Quaternary fossil bone deposits on the Chatham Islands, located c. 800 km east of mainland New Zealand. Mitochondrial DNA analyses and osteological characters confirm that the Chatham Islands parrot was a sister taxon to the New Zealand kaka (Nestor meridionalis Gmelin, 1788). The relatively large femur : humerus length ratio and broad pelvis of the Chatham Islands parrot indicate that it had a more terrestrial habit than the kaka. Stable dietary isotope analyses (δ 15 N and δ 13 C) of Chatham Islands parrot bones suggest that the species may have been mainly herbivorous, although further analyses are required to confirm this. The presence of Chatham Islands parrot bones in early midden deposits shows that the species persisted into the post-settlement era, and became extinct possibly as a result of habitat loss, hunting pressure, and rat predation following initial Polynesian settlement of the islands (sometime between the 13 th and 16 th centuries AD).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%