Science

13028 readers

26 users here now

Studies, research findings, and interesting tidbits from the ever-expanding scientific world.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Space

Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

remington

alyaza

Gaywallet

163

Prehistoric bird once thought extinct returns to New Zealand wild (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by anon6789 to c/science

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

In New Zealand, the return of wild takahē populations marks a cautiously celebrated conservation victory, and the return of one of the world’s rarest creatures. The birds had been formally declared extinct in 1898, their already-reduced population devastated by the arrival of European settlers’ animal companions: stoats, cats, ferrets and rats. After their rediscovery in 1948, their numbers are now at about 500, growing at about 8% a year.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It means the species was around for a long time before they thought it went extinct.

As stated in the article:

Their presence in Aotearoa dates back to at least the prehistoric Pleistocene era, according to fossil remains.

[–] Bakwerk@feddit.nu 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Then pretty much every species is prehistoric right? Everything that hasn't popped up in the last 5000 or so years.

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

When it comes to animals they're not usually referring to only "before writing" prehistory but rather "before humans" or "from early humans and older" prehistory. It's more of a colloquial use of the term referring to some of the oldest species of animals.

Though you'd be surprised at how many species have only evolved in the past 5000 years or so.