IN THE Northern Hemisphere most of us see New Zealand only as a couple of islands near the bottom of the world map. We recognise only its name, its location (somewhere off Australia), and one of its more curious creatures, the flightless kiwi. That quick summary vastly understates the rich environment of the islands.
Plate tectonics tore New Zealand from the ancient supercontinent Gondwana some 80 million years ago. The collection of islands that make up New Zealand was low and flat, with only a few of them rising above sea level until the process of mountain building began several million years ago. That heritage shaped both the landscape and the wildlife of the country.
The islands remained isolated from the nearby continents of Australia and Asia until the first Maori settlers arrived around AD 1100. Bats had been the only mammals to reach the islands before humans; in their ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.