Island

One of the favorite TV programs that Euterpe enjoyed every weekend is a documentary series about the South Pacific Ocean.

I must say Vivian also like it very much – and so do I, but for a slightly different reason.

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A recent episode was about unique species of birds and reptiles on those islands.

There were no fewer than a dozen of similar stories. Take moa on the New Zealand as the example. Before Homo sapiens came to the island, this gigantic bird was probably the largest animal on the island. Since food was everywhere and there was absolutely no predator (except a few Haast's Eagle), it soon evolved to suite the heaven: it became slow, timid, pleasant, and, the most important of all, it lost the ability to fly. (In fact, moa has no wings.)

The consequence was dramatic. When Māori arrived in the thirteenth century,  moa was in no way comparable to the newcomers; it had no means to protect itself, and soon became extinct.

PS. A critical bit of detail was not touched in the program: The time that took for many of these wingless birds to evolve and became incompetent was very much quicker than you expect from the traditional Darwin’s type of evolution. (Many species of wingless bird on these south Pacific islands arrived no more than 30000 years ago – obviously when they could still fly.) The reason was obvious: It always takes a long time for a random evolution to come up with a desirable trait, but it is very easy (and in a lightening speed) to lose a valuable character – because the maintenance of which involves effort and flesh and blood and competition.