Pests of Nostalgia by Becs Cox - Coromind Issue 5, 2023

What is Acclimatisation? It is the adaptation of animals or plants to an environment or climate they are not normally found in.Aotearoa New Zealand’s first acclimatisers were the Polynesian voyagers that arrived here around 1250-1300 AD. They brought with them kiore (pacific rats), kūmara, kurī (dogs), taro and paper mulberry. The taro and paper mulberry did not grow well in this climate, but the kūmara grew well on our sub-tropical islands. The kiore and kurī, however, had a different impact on the environment. Many of the endemic birds here in Aotearoa New Zealand were flightless and so hunting was easy....www.coromind.nz