Meet the ‘Old Mother Goose’ from NZ’s subtropical prehistoric past
- Written by Nic Rawlence, Associate Professor in Ancient DNA, University of Otago
Sasha Votyakova/Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, CC BY-NC-SADuring the early to mid Miocene period, 14 to 19 million years ago, a vast lake covered much of what is now Central Otago.
Along the shores of Lake Manuherikia, whose remnants are found near present-day St Bathans, lived crocodilians, turtles, and bowerbirds, as well as early...





