> > It's a rainy Sunday morning in England, you can tell :) > Well, it was a choice between taking the piss out of a puffin or a shag...
Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Cotty > Sent: 06 July 2008 11:08 > To: pentax list > Subject: Re: PESO: Send out the clowns > > On 6/7/08, Bob W, discombobulated, unleashed: > > >I guess you've never heard of the marsupial killer puffins of > >Rangararatarahoaroa on New Zealand's little-known West Island. In the > >days before human settlement in the islands the marsupial killer > >puffin, called by the local people as Owatanastiphuca ('head-snipping > >bastard bird') was top predator. Because sand eels are virtually > >unknown there the puffin evolved to take the thing which most closely > >resembled sand eels - the elongated neck of the giant moa. > > > >The giant moa, as you know, stood upright at about 1.8 metres or 6' > >tall. So when the first human settlers arrived on the > island, standing > >about the same height as a giant moa, they looked to the > puffin like a > >might tasty addition to the diet. > > > >This killer puffin, which was scarcely larger than the friendly > >creatures we know from the land of Njal, had evolved a much larger > >beak, whose colours blended with the local flora, and an incredibly > >strong neck. So the bird would hide in the trees of West Island and > >swoop down on the unwary humans, snip their head off, and take the > >torso back to the nest. Imagine the sight of a puffin's beak > >containing a line of floppy headless humans instead of sand eels! > > > >Eventually the people abandoned their attempts to settle > >Rangararatarahoaroa, and it has always been left to the marsupial > >killer puffins. So dangerous are they that West Island is not allowed > >to be featured on maps of New Zealand, but those of us who've > >travelled in the area have stumbled across it, about 20 > leagues to the > >east of South Island (it's official name is a cunning bluff to throw > >people off the track). > > > >I understand Frans Lanting is planning a photographic trip there, as > >soon as he can find enough people to volunteer as scouts, and a suit > >of armour for himself. > -- -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
