Kiwi ‘more African than Australian’ says study
New Zealand's iconic kiwi is most closely related to the extinct elephant bird of Madagascar rather than the Australian emu as previously thought. The findings stem from a study by the University of Adelaide that was based on ancient DNA analyses of elephant bird bones at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.
New Zealand's iconic kiwi is most closely related to the extinct elephant bird of Madagascar rather than the Australian emu as previously thought.
The findings stem from a study by the University of Adelaide that was based on ancient DNA analyses of elephant bird bones at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.
At two to three metres tall and weighing in at 275kg, the Madagascan elephant bird was a far cry from the chicken-size kiwi.
But the DNA analyses found a close genetic link between them.
The study, published in the journal Science, found that ancestors of both of these flightless birds once took to the skies. And that has helped solve a 150-year-old mystery about the origins of flightless "ratite" birds found across the southern continents today, like emus and ostriches.
"This result was about as unexpected as you could get," said Kieren Mitchell, of the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD).