New Zealand New Zealand was formed some 80 million years ago
when it broke off from the tropical southern continent, Gondwana
(Molloy 1994). The land mass moved away with resident
pterosaurs, sauropod and carnosaur dinosaurs, along with
primitive frogs, lizards, land snails, spiders and other insects
and invertebrates. It is also possible that the ancestors of the
flightless moas and kiwis were present on Gondwana (Heather and
Robertson 1997). Unlike South America, New Zealand remained
uninhabited by humans until a thousand years ago, allowing an
extraordinary fauna and flora to evolve. Giant trees of many
types, some almost as massive as sequoias and others rivaling
American Coast Redwood in height, thrived in primeval
rainforests and swamps. The dinosaurs died off 65 million years
ago simultaneous with their extinction elsewhere in the world.
Over the eons, as the land moved southward, the climate cooled.
Many tropical species, unable to adapt, died out, while others
coexisted with immigrant species of plan