Vertebrates: Seabirds

Aotearoa New Zealand is a global biodiversity hotspot for seabirds where approximately one quarter of the world’s seabird species breed today. Seabirds are species in five taxonomic orders and include albatrosses, shearwaters and relatives (order Procellariiformes), gannets, cormorants and relatives (order Suliformes), penguins (order Sphenisciformes), skuas and terns (order Charadriiformes), and  tropicbirds (order Phaethontiformes).

The fossil record of Aotearoa reveals that a rich diversity of seabirds have been living around Zealandia for a long time. Some of these discoveries represent ecological niches that are long extinct for seabirds, as is the case with the giant fossil penguins. These are species that were taller and heavier than living emperor penguins and potentially foraged in deep environments that penguins don’t access today. Several other fossil seabirds have been discovered that would have looked and behaved in similar ways to seabirds living today.

The University of Otago Geology Museum collections are globally important for seabird fossils. In particular, fossils from the Geology Museum have helped us to understand when and how Zealandia first became the Seabird Capital of the World. In this section we introduce ancient seabirds that have featured in a decades-long programme of evolutionary, faunal and biogeographic research.