An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa
New Zealand moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) are the only late Quaternary megafauna whose extinction was clearly caused by humans. New Zealand offers the best opportunity to estimate the number of people involved in a megafaunal extinction event because, uniquely, both the Polynesian settlement of New Z...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Macmillan Publishers Limited
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11442 |
| _version_ | 1848747806435573760 |
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| author | Holdaway, R. Allentoft, M. Jacomb, C. Oskam, C. Beavan, N. Bunce, Michael |
| author_facet | Holdaway, R. Allentoft, M. Jacomb, C. Oskam, C. Beavan, N. Bunce, Michael |
| author_sort | Holdaway, R. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | New Zealand moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) are the only late Quaternary megafauna whose extinction was clearly caused by humans. New Zealand offers the best opportunity to estimate the number of people involved in a megafaunal extinction event because, uniquely, both the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand and moa extinction are recent enough to be dated with a high degree of precision. In addition, the founding human population can be estimated from genetic evidence. Here we show that the Polynesian population of New Zealand would not have exceeded 2,000 individuals before extinction of moa populations in the habitable areas of the eastern South Island. During a brief (<150 years) period and at population densities that never exceeded ~0.01 km-2, Polynesians exterminated viable populations of moa by hunting and removal of habitat. High human population densities are not required in models of megafaunal extinction. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:55:00Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-11442 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:55:00Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Macmillan Publishers Limited |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-114422017-09-13T14:55:43Z An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa Holdaway, R. Allentoft, M. Jacomb, C. Oskam, C. Beavan, N. Bunce, Michael New Zealand moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) are the only late Quaternary megafauna whose extinction was clearly caused by humans. New Zealand offers the best opportunity to estimate the number of people involved in a megafaunal extinction event because, uniquely, both the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand and moa extinction are recent enough to be dated with a high degree of precision. In addition, the founding human population can be estimated from genetic evidence. Here we show that the Polynesian population of New Zealand would not have exceeded 2,000 individuals before extinction of moa populations in the habitable areas of the eastern South Island. During a brief (<150 years) period and at population densities that never exceeded ~0.01 km-2, Polynesians exterminated viable populations of moa by hunting and removal of habitat. High human population densities are not required in models of megafaunal extinction. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11442 10.1038/ncomms6436 Macmillan Publishers Limited unknown |
| spellingShingle | Holdaway, R. Allentoft, M. Jacomb, C. Oskam, C. Beavan, N. Bunce, Michael An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa |
| title | An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa |
| title_full | An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa |
| title_fullStr | An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa |
| title_full_unstemmed | An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa |
| title_short | An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa |
| title_sort | extremely low-density human population exterminated new zealand moa |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11442 |