Abstract
NEW ZEALAND has provided biological science with the classical and most striking case of the effects upon a fauna of prolonged isolation. For an immense period of time it has remained a sanctuary for archaic types. The facts about the kiwis, ground-parrots, wekas and other flightless birds are quoted in perhaps every zoological course in the universities of the world. Yet, these very animals so important to science are now in the gravest danger of becoming extinct1 like the giant eagles and moas before them. The aid of zoologists in Britain and elsewhere is urgently needed to support the efforts being made by New Zealand workers to bring about reforms to save these animals, which, once lost, will never be known again. It is insufficient to have passed laws purporting to ‘protect’ them, when inadequate wild-life administration is available to enforce the laws. Active measures must be taken as soon as possible to destroy the complex of introduced pests which have ousted, or actually attacked, the defenceless native species. The problem is of the utmost importance, and we owe it to future generations, and especially to future biologists, not only in New Zealand but also throughout the rest of the world, to solve it now.
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