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The original was posted on /r/conspiracytheories by /u/ChristmasTreeWorm on 2023-08-18 01:27:44+00:00.
Hello, zoologist here! I've been studying animals, biology and ecology my whole life, and graduated from college with a degree in animal science. I'm going to give you my strongest evidence as to why I think New Zealand may not actually exist. Bear with me here, we are gonna get science-y for a minute.
Here's an important zoology term to know first. "Endemic" means that an animal is found in only one location on the earth, usually an island of some kind. For example, lemurs are endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are not found in any other place in the world.
There's a lot of animals that are commonly known (at least to us zoologists) that are endemic species. Lemurs and fossas of Madagascar, the komodo dragon of only 5 islands of southeastern Indonesia, the Galapagos tortoise of the Galapagos Islands, and the Aldabra tortoise of the Seychelles (very small island near Madagascar) to name a few.
Here's what those animals have in common: they are all endemic to islands that have a tropical biome and climate (i.e. they are primarily rainforest covered) and they have drastically declining populations, ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered.
Tropical rainforest ecosystems, or biomes, are one of the oldest ecosystems, second to our oceans. This means these forests have been around for tens of millions of years. That is plenty of time for animals to evolve and for biodiversity to fluroush, yes? That is why we know, see and discover all the species we do. Think about the biodiversity of the Amazon.
Animals that are listed as vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered are protected all over the world by zoos, breeding programs, exotic animal rescue centers, laws, etc. That's one reason we know of the species previously listed: education and conservation efforts.
The species listed all have declining populations and live in tropical biomes. Are those two factors related? Yes.
These animals have declining populations because of human activity - especially deforestation. And it's not just the species listed; species all over the world that live in tropical rainforests have populations on the decline because of human activities.
The biome of "New Zealand" is primarily tropical rainforest. That means New Zealand must have been around for a while, given rainforests are practically a prehistoric biome. Not to mention, New Zealand is roughly the size of Madagascar. Knowing this, we should expect that New Zealand should be extremely biodiverse, right? But remember, rainforests all over the world are being destroyed, causing those native species to have a signifigant population decline and in need of conservation efforts. Unless, however, New Zealand rainforests are somehow not subject to deforestation.
New Zealand is not free from deforestation. Why place laws banning deforestation of New Zealand and not South America, Africa, Asia? You wouldn't. If New Zealand is real, deforestation occurs there too. And if deforestation occurs there, there must be endemic animal species that are experiencing a serious population decline, placing their conservation status to drop to "vulnerable" or worse.
If New Zealand is covered in tropical rainforests, it is biologically expected to be very biodiverse. But their rainforests are being destroyed too due to human activity, placing those species into a threat of extinction and in need of protection and conservation efforts.
So... where are these animals? What are these animals? Have you ever seen ANY animal from New Zealand in a zoo? If you put all the information together, wouldn't you think you'd see conservation and education efforts in place for these animals like you do for the rest? But... you don't. You probably can't even name an animal from New Zealand.
As a zoologist I will tell you, animals of New Zealand are NEVER talked about amongst other zoologists. I personally can only name one off the top of my head, the "kiwi bird", so called. And I didn't even learn about that bird in college, I learned it from Google. I've done rigorous studies of zoology in college and I was taught by a man that won an award for one of the best biology professors in the United States, and not once did we learn about a single animal from New Zealand.
I don't know, it all seems sketch to me. It's something to meditate on.