The headline seems a stretch, considering their ancestors died out in Aotearoa millions of years ago, but it's still interesting history.
this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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Yeah it does seem to imply they were already here when the article says otherwise. But I wonder if they meant that their ancestors were previously part of the ecosystem so they aren't as disruptive as we might assume (unlike, say, possums, that devastate forests in a way not seen in Australia).
Yeah maybe. I'm not really sure whether 5 million years is enough time for the rest of the ecosystem to have evolved for their absence in such a way that their return would be disruptive. It's a time frame long enough that I could think maybe it is, but short enough that I'd also not be too surprised to learn it isn't.