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4/18/03 6:40 PM |
man_cliff |
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The forests here are on the "World Trust" -- they are the only "Gondwanaland"
(per ancient tectonics) forests surviving in the world. These are unchanged
in almost 100 million years - due mostly to the fact that for some unknown
reason - most all the animals on New Zealand but birds, sealife, and one
fruit bat died out. Birds ruled this island and unlike the grazing
mammals they didn't change its landscape much. Until men arrived a
thousand years ago or so, it was completely preserved. Birds evolved
to take niches mammals usually took - for example the flightless Kiwi and
the 10 foot tall Moa. After man's arrival, 75 species went extinct.
Evenso, you can see by the landscape that this is a paradise for birds -
the countryside is much to rough for men to build on and even for ground
animals to live here. It's heavily forested, and the west coast is
a rain forest, raining 2 days in 3 and getting many meters of rain each year.
The main problem for the ecology was introduction of the Australian
Bushy-tailed Brown Possum. Endangered in Australia (ironically) it
is actively trapped and poisoned here. It thrives here with no predators.
Note New Zealand has no poisonous insects, snakes, scorpions, etc.
It also has no dangerous animals - thus it's a haven for hikers.
Another interesting "sign of the times" - there is a bird called the Tui
that mimics the calls of other birds. Hikers have enjoyed decent cell
phone coverage, and it's now common for them to hear the Tui mimicing various
cell phone sounds when hiking certain parts of the trails. New Zealand
has extensive "tracks" (hiking trails) and encourages "Tramping" (hiking)
with comfortable lodges strategically placed along the trails. Overall
the country is very active in promoting the environment and is pround to
be a non-nuclear nation.
JAlbum 3.2
