EEP Crowned pigeon number 4

EEP STUDBOOK CROWNED PIGEONS
Bio-geography
The native mammal fauna of the island if New Guinea is depauperate, meaning that many
kinds of mammals found in adjacent regions of the world are lacking here. New Guineas
mammal fauna is made up, apart from flying foxes and other kinds of bats, of two kinds of
monotremes, and approximately an equal number (around 60) of species of marsupials
(pouched mammals) and rodents but this conceals the fact that the marsupials are far more
diverse. Rodents are represented by just one family: rats and mice (Muridae). On the other
hand there are seven families of marsupials ranging from tiny mouse-sized carnivores to
large, herbivorous kangaroos. In Australia the composition of the endemic terrestrial
mammalian fauna is just the same: monotremes, marsupials and rodents, but the rats and mice
are now quite outnumbered by more than 120 species of marsupials in 13 separate families.
There are six different families of bats in New Guinea as well but bats have fewer restrictions
on their movements and many kinds are very widely distributed outside the region. Among
the introduced mammals the most important is the pig which has been around for so long that
it is often thought to be a native animal. It is almost certain that pigs were brought in to New
Guinea by the earliest human arrivals, possibly over more than 15.000 years ago. In more
recent times, the native fauna has been augmented by dogs, which exists as truly wild
populations in some areas cats are a relatively recent introduction as well as various kinds of
deer and, unwittingly, black and brown rats and house mice (Menzies, 1991).
History
The mainland of Papua New Guinea, where the bulk of all animal and plant life is found, has
served as a distribution center for the islands: the Bismarck Archipelago is being colonised
mainly by adventurous New Guinea birds which used the various islands as stepping stones.
Due to isolation a number of these birds evolved into distinct species (Coates, 1977).
For one or more periods during the ice ages when sea levels were much lower than they are
now, Australia was actually joined to New Guinea and final separation only came less than
one million years ago, with the formation of the Torres Strait (Menzies, 1991).
In New Guinea several different geographical subregions can be distinguished, each with
some characteristic flora and fauna.
The region that is most obviously different from the rest of New Guinea is the southern
woodland or savanna country, which includes many elements of the Australian fauna. This
region includes the plains of the southern Fly and Digul Rivers, a narrow coastal strip east and
west of Port Moresby and some scattered patches on the SouthEast coasts. The animals found
here are all common in north Queensland (Australia) and their presence in New Guinea is a
relic of the time when Australia and New Guinea were one land mass, before the Torres Strait
was formed. Relatively few species are found in both savanna and forest.
Most of the rest of New Guinea is covered by tropical rain forest of one sort or another and
can be divided into different zones, the exact boundaries of which vary from place to place
according to local climate and topography. Lowland forest from sealevel to about 600 m is
often subject to inundation. Hill forest on slopes up to 1000 or 1200 m has a similar
composition but is not subject to inundation in wet weather. Lower montane forest (1200 to
2000 m), mid-montane forest (2000 to 3000 m) and upper montane forest above 3000 m
follow but upper montane forests tend to occur in patches interspersed with open vegetation
123