> >> Tim Øsleby wrote:
> >>
> >>> http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=239772
> >>> (Warning: 300kb)
> >>>
> >>> Comments please
> Aren't all moments with puffins funny moments?
I guess you've never heard of the marsupial killer puffins of
Rangararatarahoaroa on New Zealand's little-known West Island. In the
days before human settlement in the islands the marsupial killer
puffin, called by the local people as Owatanastiphuca ('head-snipping
bastard bird') was top predator. Because sand eels are virtually
unknown there the puffin evolved to take the thing which most closely
resembled sand eels - the elongated neck of the giant moa.
The giant moa, as you know, stood upright at about 1.8 metres or 6'
tall. So when the first human settlers arrived on the island, standing
about the same height as a giant moa, they looked to the puffin like a
might tasty addition to the diet.
This killer puffin, which was scarcely larger than the friendly
creatures we know from the land of Njal, had evolved a much larger
beak, whose colours blended with the local flora, and an incredibly
strong neck. So the bird would hide in the trees of West Island and
swoop down on the unwary humans, snip their head off, and take the
torso back to the nest. Imagine the sight of a puffin's beak
containing a line of floppy headless humans instead of sand eels!
Eventually the people abandoned their attempts to settle
Rangararatarahoaroa, and it has always been left to the marsupial
killer puffins. So dangerous are they that West Island is not allowed
to be featured on maps of New Zealand, but those of us who've
travelled in the area have stumbled across it, about 20 leagues to the
east of South Island (it's official name is a cunning bluff to throw
people off the track).
I understand Frans Lanting is planning a photographic trip there, as
soon as he can find enough people to volunteer as scouts, and a suit
of armour for himself.
Bob
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