A new study from the University of Otago has discovered the origins of the mergansers in Aotearoa, New Zealand. These duck species were typically found in riverine and coastal fish-eating areas in the Northern Hemisphere, with a few rare species in the Southern Hemisphere. These include the endangered Brazilian merganser and two extinct species from New Zealand’s Auckland and Chatham Islands.
The study’s lead author, Associate Professor Nic Rawlence, Director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, states that the history of mergansers in the Southern Hemisphere has always remained a mystery since their extinction. “There is not even a deep-time fossil record of these birds in the Southern Hemisphere,” he said. The study showed that these mysterious ducks arrived in the region at least 7 million years ago from the Northern Hemisphere. This is very significant as it demonstrates that New Zealand birds do not always hail from Australia and can have a much wider range.
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