The New Zealand coot (Fulica prisca ) is an extinct bird in the rail family, Rallidae, that was endemic to New Zealand. It was described in 1893 by New Zealand naturalist, ethnologist and museum director Augustus Hamilton, from material he had collected the previous year at Castle Rocks on the Oreti River in Southland. The Latin specific epithet prisca means "old", referring to its subfossil occurrence. Remains have subsequently been found at several sites in both North and South Islands.
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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starts withAlthough the coot's body proportions were similar to those of living coots, it was larger than most, at about 1.8 kg (4 lb) in weight and a length of 40 cm (16 in), though it was still probably able to fly. It was also more terrestrial, with its remains discovered in inland forests and subalpine regions as well as coastal wetlands. Its bones have also been found in early Maori middens in coastal Marlborough, and it is likely to have become extinct through over-hunting.
