Insular
Many islands had unique megafauna that went extinct upon the arrival of humans more recently (over the last few millennia and continuing into recent centuries). These included giant bird forms in New Zealand such as the moas and Harpagornis (a giant eagle); giant lemurs, including Megaladapis and Palaeopropithecus species and Archaeoindris, a gorilla-sized lemur, two species of hippopotamus, a Giant tortoise, the Voay-crocodile and the gigantic Aepyornis in Madagascar; various Giant tortoise species from the Mascarenes, a dwarf Stegodon on Flores and a number of other islands; dwarf woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island and St. Paul Island; land turtles and crocodiles in New Caledonia; giant owls and dwarf ground sloths in the Caribbean; giant geese and moa-nalo (giant ducks) in Hawaii; and dwarf elephants and dwarf hippos from the Mediterranean islands.
Read more about this topic: Pleistocene Megafauna
Famous quotes containing the word insular:
“As this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horror of the half known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“They are a curious mixture of Spanish tradition, American imitation, and insular limitation. This explains why they never catch on to themselves.”
—Helen Lawrenson (1904–1982)