Australia, New Zealand Encyclopedia 18. (töredék) [antikvár]

takaheThe takahe or notornis (Notoniis inautelli) is a flightless bird found only in New Zealand. The takahe is a type of rail (many of which are wading birds) and feeds on alpine grasses and insects. It has blue and green plumage and an orange beak which extends to its forehead forming a face shield. The bird resembles the related but smaller pukeko. Although rare, and thought to be extinct until 1849" the takahe may be seen in the alpine areas in the south of the South Island.The takahe was first known from its fossil bones which were found with those of the extinct moa in 1847. Between 1849 and 1898 four takahe were taken alive. No more were sighted until 1948 when a small colony was found in the Murchison IVlountains of the South Island.talcTalc is a soft white mineral used in the production of cosmetics, paints, ceramics and rubber. Harder grades of talc are called soapstone.Most Australian talc is mined in the Gerald-ton region of Western Austraha, with the remainder coming from South Austraha and New South Wales. In 1972, about 43,850 tonnes of talc were mined in Australia and some 32,000 tonnes were exported, mainly to the Netherlands and Japan. A small quantity is mined in New Zealand in Nelson Province.Pulverized talc is used to make face or talcum powder for the cosmetics industry. Only the whitest talc is used for cosmetics, the darker grades being used in products such as rubber to change its texture.talgai skullThe Talgai skull, a fossihzed portion of a human cranium, was found in 1886 on the Darhng Downs in S Queensland. Studies of the skull, carried out by Professor Sir Edgeworth David, revealed that aboriginals, or other early men, had been in Australia far longer than had been thought at that time. Although first estimated as belonging to the Pleistocene geological epoch, (at least 20,000 years old), modern dating techniques have re-assessed the skull as being about 11,000-12,000 years old. Since then older discoveries have beenOpposite: The Tasmanian devil is a meat-eating marsupial, now found only in Tasmania although fossil evidence shows that they once existed on the Australian mainland.Top: The NZ takahe had not been seen for 50 years when a colony of the birds was found near Lake Te Anau in 1948. Above: The Talgai skull, a clue to the length of time man has lived in Australia.made at Lake Mungo, NSW, 100km NE of Mildura. From here human artefacts have been dated at 35,600 BP (before the present) and one skeleton is thought to be about 26,000 years old.The problem facing archaeologists is that the Talgai skull, and others from Kow Swamp on the Murray River in Victoria, suggest some resemblance to forms of men known from fossils in java, East Africa and China which are very much earlier.It is not known whether two distinct groups of people moved into Austraha or whether the modern looking and the more rugged skulls represent extremes of variation among one group of people, the ancient Aboriginals. The latter view has much to recommend it,1429