I think some of it depends on diet, not just predator avoidance. The other small birds that do fly (thank you authicooper), would presumably need to get up into foliage to hunt for insects or specific seeds.

You’re right, I should have been clearer about the evolutionary timeline. Moa have long been extinct. Realized that right after it got starred and I couldn’t edit :|

Pretty sure cloacas is the correct grammar. But yeah, Kiwis are fucking weird, and awesome. Ever see one run around?

Before human intervention, New Zealand was VERY isolated from an evolutionary perspective. After the break-off from Gondwana, the few mammals that did live there went extinct (bats survived, but they obviously don’t consume birds), and for 4 million years birds there didn’t have the same kind of mammalian predators as…

Was the HMNZS Jandal undergoing maintenance?

Got a good chuckle out of this, especially given Australia’s anti-hooning laws.

Also, it should be noted that not only are many of New Zealand’s birds small, they are also predominantly flightless.

Don’t be so uppity.

2.5 RS? Ver’ nice!

I would get those idiots pretty frequently just because of the MS3 badge.

Holy shit. That’s Sugarland/Missouri City area - stay safe everyone.

It’s hard even to make decent pictures at most autocross venues... Too much wide-open gray concrete and orange.

Always impressed planes can land crabbed like that without hooking when the tires start finding grip.

Trying to figure out who gets eliminated next:

“Why can’t anyone give me a second?!”

Spyker! Naked gear linkage mmmmmmm

The four sentences I reposted or the fluid?

The interior is awful, but this one I don’t hate on the outside.

I’d love to see Rex Power Colt return to the franchise.

I didn’t notice when copy/pasting, but you’re right. It’s been a longgggg time since I’ve been in a chemistry class.

I believe it’s the hot air moving through cold pipes causing some condensation. There’s actually some pretty interesting chemistry involved:

“C₈H₁₈ (or 8 Carbon atoms and 18 Hydrogen atoms)

Were y’all up late waiting for this to drop? I thought it was a little odd that they didn’t release it around US primetime hours. It was Tuesday by the time I saw it, and they were teasing a Monday release about a week ago I think?