Geography of New Caledonia a refugium, in effect a biological "Noah's Ark", an island home to both unique living plants and animals and also to its own special fossil endowment. Birds such as the crested and almost flightless kagu (French, "cagou") "Rhynochetos jubatus", whose closest relative may be the distantly related sunbittern of South America, and plants such as "Amborella trichopoda", the only known member of the most basal living branch of flowering plants, make this island a treasure trove and a critical concern for biologists and conservationists. The island was home to horned fossil turtles ("Meiolania mackayi") and terrestrial fossil crocodiles ("Mekosuchus inexpectatus")
Creature template Edition game's Dungeon Master's Guide, which features tables to aid in the "random generation of creatures from the lower planes". Subsequent other First Edition handbooks, notably the Monster Manual II, as well as Dragon Magazine, featured additional early monster generation templates. Creature template In the "Dungeons & Dragons" game, a template can be applied to a creature to enhance its abilities or to even create a new type of creature. Templates can be either acquired or inherited. An acquired template can be applied to a creature at any point (assuming it meets the prerequisites for the template), while an inherited