For my brother Andrew, who found the best fossil — GC For Graham, always a source of inspiration — NB Gillian Candler is an award-winning author who brings her knowledge and skills in education and publishing to her passion for the natural world. She has always been intrigued by how New Zealand must have looked to the very first people who set foot here, and wanted to find out more about what animals lived here then. She found her first fossil when she was 5 years old – an experience she’ll never forget – and it opened up a whole new world of interest. contents Ned Barraud is an illustrator with a keen passion for the natural world. For him, this book was a perfect opportunity Travel back in time 4 to put on paper some of the most bizarre and fascinating creatures from New Zealand’s past. Ned lives in Wellington The changing land 6 with his wife and three children. Around 1000 years ago 8 The forest at night 10 other books in the explore & discover series In the mountains 12 All about moa 14 Many thanks to Alan Tennyson for his advice on the text Other extinct birds 16 and illustrations. The maps on pages 6–7 are based on those in George Gibbs’ book, Ghosts of Gondwana: A history of life in Survivors from the past 18 New Zealand. Around 19 million years ago 20 First published in 2016 by Animals of Lake Manuherikia 22 Potton & Burton 98 Vickerman Street, PO Box 5128, Nelson, The seas of Zealandia 24 New Zealand www.pottonandburton.co.nz Ancient sea creatures 26 Illustrations © Ned Barraud; text © Gillian Candler Around 80 million years ago 28 ISBN PB 978 0 947503 09 3; HB 978 0 947503 10 9 Dinosaurs and more 30 Printed in China by Midas Printing International Ltd Life on Gondwana 32 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the Uncovering the secrets of the past 34 purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced Glossary, index & find out more 36 by any process without the permission of the publishers. Imagine we could travel back in time. What would New Zealand have looked like? And what animals would have lived here? To the first Polynesian voyagers who arrived here less than 1000 years ago, it might have looked like a land of birds. Birds were everywhere, day and night, from some of the largest known birds to some of the tiniest. Other unusual animals, such as tuatara, lived here too. Going further back in time over millions of years, the shape and size of the land has been through many changes. We would see crocodilians in lakes, giant penguins and shark-toothed dolphins in the seas and, many millions of years before them, dinosaurs roaming the continents of Zealandia and Gondwana. Fossils and rocks leave clues about the changing shape of the land and the animals and plants that lived here. Turn the page to travel back in time. ealan stralis breaking w Z d to Au aw e d ay N a y fr o the changing land m G o n New Zealand has not always been the shape it is today. Going back d p w a g a through time, we would see all sorts of changes – mountains rising, e n huma s a ns ar 3 — ice ages, tropical periods and the sea level rising and falling. ri 2 4–5 an v – es d e 3 g 8– pa 1 — 3 9 The islands that make up New Zealand today are part of the ic — e ag — ammonite es — continent of Zealandia, much of which is now under Alps forme ern d th — the ocean. Many millions of years ago, Zealandia ou S d formed — moa lan was part of a much, much larger continent called ea false-toothed Z Gondwana. Follow the timeline to see how w pelican theropod e ye N llion ars the shape of the land has gradually mi ag gondwana 9 o 1 180 million changed over time. years ago t r n years o illio ag p m o i c 0 a 8 l crocodilian c l im 3 a 0–2 te s 2 e – g tly un – s d a mo er p ia w s a nd ate li i Z — a a d e al r tr n e s a a Z u l l A ea a — Z n how long is a llion ye d s why does the mi ar li 5 s a ia a 2 g d tr million years? o ri us ftin A land change? g away from A million years is a very, very, very long ears a Like a giant jigsaw, the Earth is made up of time. People have lived in New Zealand n y go pieces that fit together. These pieces of the 7 lio — –2 il pa for less than a thousand years. Imagine 24 m — ges 28–31 Earth’s surface or crust are called tectonic s time stretching back, another thousand e 0 di plates. Heat moving below the crust causes g 6 no on a sa cti and another thousand years, until you p ur tin the plates to jiggle about. Over millions ex have a thousand thousands stretching — and millions of years, this movement back in time. That is one million years. Try caused the pieces of Gondwana to change this: time how long it takes you to count to and drift apart to create the countries that 100, then multiply this by 10,000. That is waimanu penguin we see today. The land is still changing but how long it would take you to count to so very slowly that, except for earthquakes, one million. people don’t notice these changes. shark-toothed dolphin At night the forest was alive with birds, bats and creatures such as giant snails. The flightless kiwi and kākāpō searched for food in the safety of darkness, away from the eyes of the giant eagle. The laughing owl looked for smaller prey, such as geckos, bats and small birds like this fairy prion, which hopes to return safely to its burrow. how do we know? Scientists have found fossil remains of kiwi and kākāpō, so they know that the kākāpō, which is now very rare, was once a common bird. Bones and other remains found at nest sites of the laughing owl tell us what animals this now extinct bird ate. Icy glaciers were shrinking after an ice age 20,000 years ago came to an end. As the ice retreated, grass and scrub grew, covering the mountainous areas above the edge of the forests. Giant flightless geese grazed on the grass and some moa species lived here too. Haast’s eagles, the largest known eagle, hunted the large birds in the mountains and in the forest. Tiny wrens searched for insects in the scrub. Takahē were everywhere. Along with kea and scree wētā, takahē still live in the mountains today. Turn to pages 14–19 to learn more about moa and other extinct birds, as well as some ancient survivors. Turn to page 20 to go further back in time. how do we know? Tomos, or holes, in the ground above limestone caves became traps for unwary birds and other animals. Scientists have found fossils of many extinct birds in these caves as well as those of frogs, geckos and bats. Moa bones have been found with marks on them made by an eagle’s talons. crested moa all about moa The crested moa’s skull had holes at the top front, which would have held a crest of feathers. Fossils and remains of this moa are rare and are only found in the giant moa South Island. Mummified body TheNorth Island giant moa and parts, such as this South Island giant moa were different leg of an upland moa, have species but would have looked similar. been found, as have bones, Female giant moa were much larger than eggs and feathers. males. While giant moa females could reach 3 metres high if their necks were stretched, moa usually held their head out in front of their eastern moa body. They lived in forests as well The eastern moa had a long as open areas, eating leaves, windpipe, which meant it would fruit and twigs. female have had a loud, deep call. It is thought 2 m high to top of back, to have lived in flocks, at least for some male up to 3 m long of the year. 1 m high to top of back up to 1 m long stout-legged moa heavy-footed moa moa facts moa species • Moa couldn’t fly. Unlike other flightless birds, such as kiwi, they didn’t even have wing bones. • People often talk about moa as if they were all • Moa ate plant material such as leaves, twigs and fruit. the same kind of bird, but scientists now know that there were nine different species. • Moa bones were first discovered by scientists in the 1830s. Moa remains have been found in swamps, caves, • For many years scientists thought there were sand dunes and middens (rubbish piles). many more than nine species until they discovered that males and females of some • The first people who arrived from Polynesia, founders species were quite different sizes. of Māori tribes, hunted the moa for food. In just a couple of hundred years of hunting, the moa became • Theupland moa on page 13 lived in extinct by around the 1400s.