🇺🇸 영어 원문
A remarkable fossil discovery inside a cave near Waitomo on New Zealand’s North Island is giving scientists an unprecedented look at a long vanished ecosystem. Researchers from Australia and New Zealand have uncovered the remains of ancient birds and frogs that lived around 1 million years ago, including a previously unknown relative of the iconic kākāpō.
The find marks the first time scientists have recovered a large collection of terrestrial vertebrate fossils from this period in New Zealand’s history. Preserved within the cave were fossils belonging to 12 bird species and four frog species, offering a rare snapshot of a world that existed hundreds of thousands of years before humans reached the islands.
The research, published in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, suggests that New Zealand’s wildlife was already undergoing dramatic changes long before human settlement. Powerful volcanic eruptions and rapid climate shifts repeatedly reshaped habitats, driving extinctions and opening opportunities for new species to evolve.
Lead author Associate Professor Trevor Worthy of Flinders University says the fossils reveal a bird community unlike anything seen in New Zealand today.
“This is a newly recognized avifauna for New Zealand, one that was replaced by the one humans encountered a million years later,” says Associate Professor Worthy, from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University.
“This remarkable find suggests our ancient forests were once home to a diverse group of birds that did not survive the next million years.”
In biology, the term “avifauna” refers to the collection of bird species living in a particular place and time. The fossils indicate that the birds inhabiting New Zealand a million years ago were substantially different from those present when people eventually arrived.
The study involved paleontologists from Flinders University and Canterbury Museum, as well as volcanologists Joel Baker of the University of Auckland and Simon Barker of Victoria University of Wellington.
According to the researchers, approximately 33-50% of species disappeared during the million years before humans reached Aotearoa New Zealand.
Scientists believe these losses were largely caused by natural environmental upheaval.
“These extinctions were driven by relatively rapid climate shifts and cataclysmic volcanic eruptions,” says co-author Dr. Paul Scofield, Senior Curator of Natural History at Canterbury Museum.
“From our excavations at St Bathans in Central Otago over many years, we have a snapshot of life in Aotearoa between 20 and 16 million years ago. These new findings cast light on the 15 million year period from then to 1 million years ago, which is largely absent from New Zealand’s fossil record,” says Dr. Scofield.
“This wasn’t a missing chapter in New Zealand’s ancient history, it was a missing volume.”
Fossils are often compared to pages in Earth’s history book. In this case, researchers say they have uncovered an entire section of that story that was previously unknown.
One of the most exciting discoveries is a newly identified parrot species called Strigops insulaborealis. It is an ancient relative of the kākāpō, one of New Zealand’s most famous birds.
Today, the kākāpō is the world’s only flightless parrot. It is also one of the heaviest parrots and is known for its unusual night calls.
🇰🇷 한국어 요약
안녕하세요, 청소년 여러분! 뉴질랜드 북섬의 동굴에서 놀라운 발견이 있었습니다. 과학자들은 약 100 만 년 전에 살았던 새와 개구리 화석을 발견했는데, 이는 인간이 뉴질랜드에 도착하기 훨씬 이전의 생태계를 보여줍니다. 특히 유명한 뉴질랜드 앵무새인 ‘카카포’의 친척 종도 포함되어 있죠.
이 발견은 뉴질랜드 역사상 이 시기의 육상 척추동물 화석을 대규모로 수집한 첫 사례입니다. 화석에는 12 종의 새와 4 종의 개구리가 포함되어 있어, 인간이 오기 전 세계가 어떠했는지 희귀한 단서를 제공합니다. 연구에 따르면 화산 폭발과 기후 변화로 인해 많은 종이 사라졌지만, 새로운 종들이 진화할 기회도 열렸다고 합니다.
과학자들은 이를 ‘지구 역사책의 잃어버린 한 장’이 아닌, ‘잃어버린 한 권’이라고 표현했습니다. 이는 우리가 알지 못했던 뉴질랜드의 고대 자연사에 대한 중요한 정보를 담고 있기 때문입니다.
🔑 핵심 단어 (Vocabulary)
- Ecosystem – 생태계 – A remarkable fossil discovery… is giving scientists an unprecedented look at a long vanished ecosystem.
- Vertebrate – 척추동물 – The find marks the first time scientists have recovered a large collection of terrestrial vertebrate fossils…
- Extinction – 멸종 – Powerful volcanic eruptions and rapid climate shifts repeatedly reshaped habitats, driving extinctions…
- Avifauna – 조류상 (특정 지역의 새 종류) – In biology, the term “avifauna” refers to the collection of bird species living in a particular place and time.
- Settlement – 정착, 개척 – …suggests that New Zealand’s wildlife was already undergoing dramatic changes long before human settlement.
- Evolve – 진화하다 – …driving extinctions and opening opportunities for new species to evolve.
- Cataclysmic – 대재앙적인, 격변적인 – “These extinctions were driven by relatively rapid climate shifts and cataclysmic volcanic eruptions…”
- Excavation – 발굴 – “From our excavations at St Bathans in Central Otago over many years…”
- Flightless – 날지 못하는 – Today, the kākāpō is the world’s only flightless parrot.
- Unprecedented – 전례 없는 – A remarkable fossil discovery… is giving scientists an unprecedented look at a long vanished ecosystem.
🔗 원문 링크
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260623011129.htm