Kagu pigs and dogs. New Caledonia lacked mammals (except for bats) before the arrival of humans, and many of its native species have been negatively affected by introduced mammals. Rats have a big impact on nestlings, accounting for 55% of nestling losses. Kagus also suffer from habitat loss caused by mining and forestry. Concern was first raised about the future of the kagu in 1904. The first concrete evidence of the impact of dogs came when a New Zealand researcher's study population was quickly exterminated by dogs in the 1990s, although suspicions about the importance of dogs and other predators had
Lowland kagu Lowland kagu The lowland kagu ("Rhynochetos orarius") is a large, extinct species of kagu. It was endemic to the island of New Caledonia in Melanesia in the south-west Pacific region. It was described from subfossil bones found at the Pindai Caves paleontological site on the west coast of Grande Terre. The holotype is a right tibiotarsus (NCP 700), held by the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. The specific epithet comes from the Latin "orarius" (of the coast) from its presumed lowland distribution, as opposed to its congener the living kagu "R. jubatus". The general proportions of the various bones