Speedy Evolution Seen In Extinct Island Dwelling Rēkohu Shelduck

On a remote island, a duck arrived hundreds of thousands of years ago and quickly evolved into a sturdier, more terrestrial bird with shortened wings and elongated legs.

Extinct Rēkohu Shelduck, Tadorna rekohu, reveals speedy evolution on an isolated island, Rēkohu Chatham Islands, near Aotearoa New Zealand. Artistic reconstruction of a female Rēkohu Shelduck, showing the darker plumage common in birds isolated on islands. (Credit: Sasha Votyakova Te Papa / CC BY 4.0)

Fossil bones from a new species of duck were discovered on Rēkohu Chatham Islands, an archipelago that lies to the east of Aotearoa New Zealand. This duck, now named the Rēkohu Shelduck, Tadorna rekohu, is particularly interesting because its bones reveal how physical traits are influenced by and respond rapidly to the isolated island environment that these ducks found themselves living in.