A Fossil Goose Redraws New Zealand's Bird Family Tree

An international team led by the University of Otago analyzed a newly described goose from the St Bathans fossil deposits. Its anatomy and evolutionary placement indicate that New Zealand's giant flightless geese may have descended from comparatively recent colonists rather than an ancient isolated lineage. The result reinforces a dynamic picture in which repeated arrivals, extinctions, and adaptation shaped the country's bird life.