Pied Stewart Island Shag (<i>Leucocarbo chalconotus</i>) (IMAGE)

University of Otago

Pied Stewart Island Shag (<i>Leucocarbo chalconotus</i>)

Caption

A Pied Stewart Island Shag/mapua (Leucocarbo chalconotus) standing on sand, Papanui Inlet, Otago Peninsula, New Zealand. University of Otago researchers and colleagues used ancient-DNA analysis, radiocarbon dating and computational modelling to reconstruct population histories for prehistoric seabirds around coastal New Zealand. The team found a very distinctive pattern, where shag populations from the Stewart Island region were little affected by human hunting, but mainland populations were rapidly decimated.

Credit

Philip Griffen

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