This is a list of New Zealand animals extinct in the Holocene. This list only covers extinctions from the Holocene epoch, a geologic epoch that began about 11,650 years before present (about 9700 BCE)[a] and continues to the present day.[1]
The list below only includes animalspecies. Extinct subspecies of living species are not included. Non-animal life is also excluded. The list below includes a total of:
This should be considered a nearly exhaustive list of the New Zealand vertebrate species that became extinct in the Holocene, although future research could render parts of the list outdated. Two invertebrate species are also listed below. However, this list is less exhaustive because invertebrates are more difficult to survey and are less well studied.
All of these extinctions occurred after the human settlement of New Zealand. New Zealand was among the last places on earth that humans settled.[2] The first settlers of New Zealand migrated from Polynesia and became the Māori people.[3] According to archeological and genetic research, the ancestors of the Māori arrived in New Zealand no earlier than about 1280 CE, with at least the main settlement period between about 1320 and 1350,[4][3] consistent with evidence based on genealogical traditions.[5][6] No credible evidence exists of pre-Māori settlement of New Zealand.[3] The arrival of Māori resulted in animal extinctions due to deforestation[2] and hunting.[7] The Māori also brought two species of land mammals, Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans) and a kurī, a breed of domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris).[2][8] In pre-human times, bats were the only land mammals found in New Zealand.[9] Polynesian rats definitely contributed to extinctions,[2] and kurī might have contributed as well.[10][11] Species that became extinct after Māori settlement but before European settlement are marked as "prehistoric" in the list below.
In 1642, the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman became the first European explorer known to visit New Zealand.[12] In 1769, British explorer James Cook became the first European to map New Zealand and communicate with the Māori.[13][14] From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries, traders and adventurers. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi annexed New Zealand into the British Empire and gave the Māori all of the rights of British citizens, although the exact meaning of the treaty remains controversial today.[15][16][17] As a result of the influx of settlers, the population of Pākehā (European New Zealanders) grew explosively from fewer than 1,000 in 1831 to 500,000 by 1881.[18] Like the Māori settlers centuries earlier, the European settlers hunted native animals and engaged in habitat destruction. They also introduced numerous invasive species.[19] A few examples are black rats (Rattus rattus) and brown rats (Rattus norvegicus),[20]domestic cats (Felis catus),[21]stoats (Mustela erminea),[22] and common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula).[23] Species that became extinct after European settlement are marked as "historic" in the list below.
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was overhunting by humans for food. Moa chicks may have also been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri)."[26]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "Giant moa were rapidly hunted to extinction by early Maori. Their bones are widespread in middens, and were also shaped into tools and ornaments. Estimates of the number of individual moa remains in 1,200 open ovens and middens surveyed in the vicinity of the Waitaki River mouth during the 1930s range from 29,000 to 90,000. Moa chicks may also have been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri). Burning of the giant moa's dry forest and shrubland habitat is also likely to have reduced their numbers."[28]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was overhunting by humans for food. Moa chicks may also have been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri)."[29]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was overhunting by humans for food. The remains of moa are widespread in middens, along with specialised tools used to cut up carcasses and to work bones into tools. Middens dating from the thirteenth century, surveyed at the Wairau River bar in the Marlborough district, contained remains of more than 4,000 individual moa and large numbers of moa eggs. Eastern moa was the second most abundant species recorded at the site after [broad-billed] moa. Moa chicks may have been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri). Burning of the eastern moa's forest and shrubland habitat is also likely to have reduced its numbers."[30]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was overhunting by humans. The remains of moa are widespread in middens, along with specialised tools used to cut up carcasses and to work bones into tools. Moa chicks may have been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri). Burning of the [broad-billed] moa's forest and shrubland habitats is also likely to have reduced its numbers."[31]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was overhunting by humans. Moa chicks may also have been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri). Burning of eastern dryland forests and shrublands is likely to have reduced the extent of suitable habitat."[32]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was overhunting by humans. Moa chicks may also have been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri)."[33]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was probably overhunting by humans for food. Crested moa chicks may also have been eaten by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri)."[34]
Moa were totally extinct by about AD 1500.[27] According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The main cause of extinction was overhunting by humans for food. The remains of moa are widespread in middens, along with specialised tools used to cut up moa carcasses and to work bones into tools. Moa chicks may have been killed by the introduced Polynesian dog (kuri)."[35]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "Like the various moa species, the North Island goose would have been an easy target for early Polynesian hunters. It became extinct soon after Polynesians arrived."[36]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "Due to their large size and flightlessness, South Island geese were much hunted by early Polynesian settlers. Their remains are widespread in midden deposits. Over-hunting is the most likely cause of their extinction, which occurred long before European[s] arrived in New Zealand."[37]
Judging by the presence of their bones in middens, New Zealand swans were driven to extinction by the first Polynesian settlers before AD 1450 on the mainland and before AD 1650 on the Chatham Islands.[38]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The species became extinct prehistorically through hunting. As it was large and flightless, the [Chatham duck] would have been a good food source for the earliest Polynesian settlers on the Chatham Islands."[40]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "Scarlett’s duck became extinct sometime after Polynesian arrival. It was hunted by Maori, and its nests were possibly susceptible to predation by Pacific rats."[41]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The New Zealand musk duck became extinct in prehistoric times, and so no records of live birds exist. One bone was found in a human food midden, and hunting for food by people is the most likely cause of its demise."[42]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The [Chatham merganser] became extinct in prehistoric times, and so no records of live birds exist. A few bones have been found in human food middens, and hunting for food by people is the most likely cause of the species’ demise."[44]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The New Zealand [stiff-tailed] duck became extinct before European contact, and so no records of live birds exist. Hunting for food by humans is the most likely cause of its demise and the South Island bone may have been from a human food midden."[45]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The New Zealand owlet-nightjar was probably extinct by the 13th Century due to predation by the Pacific rat (kiore, Rattus exulans) introduced when Polynesian settlers first arrived about a thousand years ago."[47]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The North Island adzebill was extinct before European settlement. The presence of adzebill bones in middens indicates that early Polynesian settlers hunted the species, and this is the most likely cause of the bird’s extinction."[48]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The South Island adzebill became extinct before European settlement. The presence of adzebill bones in middens indicates that early Polynesian settlers hunted the species, and this is the most likely cause of the bird’s extinction."[49]
According to the IUCN Red List, "Extinct between 1893 and 1895. It is thought that invasive species are responsible, both through direct predation and habitat modification."[50]
According to the IUCN Red List, this species was "driven to extinction by the depredations of introduced species. The type material was collected in 1840, and it was Extinct by 1872."[51]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "Excavations of a stratified fossil bed at Lake Poukawa, Hawke’s Bay showed that although previously common, snipe-rails were drastically reduced in numbers during the last 1000 years of the records. This decline coincided with Maori occupation of New Zealand and the vegetation of the site changing from podocarp forest to bracken and scrub, which suggests fires were lit about that time. The key factor, however, was probably the introduction of the Polynesian rat or kiore which might have attacked the adults but certainly would have destroyed the eggs and chicks of these birds, which were extinct by the time of European settlement."[52]
According to the IUCN Red List, this species "is now Extinct as a result of hunting. It is thought to have persisted until at least 1895 when it was described in a letter."[53]
According to the IUCN Red List, "This species likely became Extinct during the 17th century as a result of predation by rats and hunting by human settlers."[54]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The New Zealand coot became extinct in prehistoric times due to over-hunting by early Maori. Its bones are common in two archaeological middens in coastal Marlborough, where some coot bones were shaped into tools."[55]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The Chatham Island coot became extinct in historic times because of over-hunting by man and possibly predation of eggs and chicks by the introduced Pacific rat. Its bones are common in middens as well as natural deposits, indicating that it was frequently taken for food."[56]
According to the IUCN Red List, this species "has been driven Extinct by human-induced habitat changes. There has been only one historical record of the species, in 1894."[57]
Known from fossil records across the North Island. It presumably was extirpated from the North Island in the prehistoric era by the introduced Polynesian rat. Historically known only from a single specimen collected on Little Barrier Island in 1870. It appears to have been extirpated there in the 1870s by introduced cats. Another was reputedly shot in 1820 on Browns Island (Motukorea) near Auckland.[58]
Various other islands offshore of Stewart Island (Pukeweka, Solomon, Mokoiti, Herekopare, Mokinui, Kundy, Green / Rukawahakura, and Breaksea / Wharepuiataha) (historic, reputedly);[59]
The South Island snipe was extirpated from the South Island and Stewart Island by the Polynesian rats introduced by the Māori. The species survived into historic times on Jacky Lee Island, Taukihepa / Big South Cape Island, and possibly other islands offshore of Stewart Island. The species became extinct in 1964 following a black rat (ship rat) invasion of Big South Cape Island and a failed relocation attempt.[59]
Pitt Island in the Chatham Islands (estimated extinction in the late 1800s, despite no historic records)[60]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "[Forbes's] snipe are presumed to have been extirpated by Pacific rats on Chatham Island between 1500 and 1800 A.D., and by feral cats on Pitt Island by the late 1800s."[60]
According to New Zealand Birds Online, "The presence of Waitaha penguin remains in archaeological contexts indicates that early Polynesian settlers hunted the species and that this, perhaps with additional predation pressure from kiore (Pacific rats) or kuri (Polynesian dogs), was a probable cause of its rapid extinction around 1500 AD."[61]
The Chatham Islands were settled by Polynesians around 1450 AD and the Chatham penguin was probably hunted to extinction within 150–200 years.[63] It was almost certainly extinct before Europeans arrived in the Chatham Islands.[64] Other species of crested penguin (Eudyptes spp.) continue to visit the Chatham Islands today. A crested penguin captured in the Chatham Islands around 1871 or 1872 was probably a visiting member of another species in the genus, not a late-surviving example of the Chatham penguin.[65][66]
^The source gives "11,700 calendar yr b2k (before AD 2000)". But "BP" means "before AD 1950". Therefore, the Holocene began 11,650 BP. Doing the math, that is c. 9700 BCE.
^This 2010 source treats Euryapteryx curtus and Euryapteryx gravis as separate species. Now they are generally treated as synonyms.
^This 2010 source also mentions Chatham Islands localities. The source adds, "Chatham Island fossils may represent an undescribed taxon, a
suggestion yet to be investigated." This apparently refers to what we now call the Chatham merganser (Mergus milleneri), which was described in 2014. Since this list includes the Chatham merganser separately, the alleged Chatham Islands localities of the New Zealand merganser are disregarded.
^Rawlence, Nicolas J.; Collins, Catherine J.; Anderson, Christian N. K.; Maxwell, Justin J.; Smith, Ian W. G.; Robertson, Bruce C.; Knapp, Michael; Horsburgh, Katherine Ann; Stanton, Jo-Ann L.; Scofield, R. Paul; Tennyson, Alan J. D.; Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth A.; Waters, Jonathan M. (2016). "Human-mediated extirpation of the unique Chatham Islands sea lion and implications for the conservation management of remaining New Zealand sea lion populations". Molecular Ecology. 25 (16): 3950–3961. doi:10.1111/mec.13726. ISSN1365-294X.
^Miskelly, Colin M.; Bell, Mike (2004). "An unusual influx of Snares crested penguins (Eudyptes robustus) on the Chatham Islands, with a review of other crested penguin records from the islands". Notornis. 51 (4): 235–237.
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