> > From: "Bob W" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 2008/07/06 Sun AM 09:09:31 GMT > To: "'Pentax-Discuss Mail List'" <[email protected]> > Subject: RE: PESO: Send out the clowns > > > >> 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.
I'll not be renting my eyebrows out for _that_ little escapade. ----------------------------------------- Email sent from www.virginmedia.com/email Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software and scanned for spam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
