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wings across the water

stout legged moaI’ve always thought that the same change could happen in separate corners of the world. We’re all on the same planet – after all.

I’ve never needed one pair – like Noah’s ark – to go out & multiply across the world. Either walking on land bridges until they crossed the globe. Or left alone to change after being marooned as continents spread far apart.

This week I found science catching up with my point of view!!

Apparently a 20-million-year-old kiwi fossil found in Central Otago had researchers suggesting that the kiwi flew here from Australia long after Gondwana broke apart.

It seems that kiwi & moa flew around the continents and then became flightless after arriving here. Just like their cousins the ostrich in Africa, the rhea South America, the emu in Australia, & the cassowary in PNG.

To go from flight to non-flight can be super-common if you’re a ratite or a rail. Or even if you’re a stout legged moa.

A world-wide change that is very weird, and very possible.

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