you know what annoys me? ("Everything?" says everybody). No, what irritates me is when (particularly American it seems) zoos think Australasia means "Australia and Asia". It doesn't. It is Australia, New Zealand and the neighbouring Pacific islands.
you know what annoys me? ("Everything?" says everybody). No, what irritates me is when (particularly American it seems) zoos think Australasia means "Australia and Asia". It doesn't. It is Australia, New Zealand and the neighbouring Pacific islands.
Stupid question probably, but is Oceania exactly the same as Australasia, or is there a difference in geographical boundries etc?
A quick search on Oceania and it says that it's the islands of the pacific ocean, but it says it's also used to define the continant that encompasses Austalia and surrounding islands.
Stupid question probably, but is Oceania exactly the same as Australasia, or is there a difference in geographical boundries etc?
A quick search on Oceania and it says that it's the islands of the pacific ocean, but it says it's also used to define the continant that encompasses Austalia and surrounding islands.
not a stupid question at all, because Oceania has never really had a proper definition. I usually tend to think of it as being much the same as Australasia but if you look at the Wikipedia article on Oceania it gives the differing uses over the years (basically everything within the boundaries of mainland southeast Asia to mainland Americas can be included, the extent in either direction depending on whatever the author using the term wants to include for their purposes!)
And here we have the southern example of our discussion about Great Britain/UK and the Channel Islands...
To be serious: I can understand why people were thinking that Australasia is the term for Australia AND Asia (not only because I also did). I mean, New Zealand is much closer to Australia (nation and continent) as to any Asian nation/country. So what the .... is the reason for that asia-ending?
To me Australasia has been defined as Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and the few Indonesian islands that have Australian/New Guinean type fauna (essentially, anything of the Wallace Line). This is based upon zoological similarities, not geographical or political definitions.
And I've always wondered why New Zealand was included, as their wildlife is nothing like Australian fauna. Maybe their plantlife is similar?
To me Australasia has been defined as Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and the few Indonesian islands that have Australian/New Guinean type fauna (essentially, anything of the Wallace Line). This is based upon zoological similarities, not geographical or political definitions.
And I've always wondered why New Zealand was included, as their wildlife is nothing like Australian fauna. Maybe their plantlife is similar?
Australasia is a geographical identity. There is a thing called the "Australasian eco-zone" (or similar names) which includes Wallacea due to the large proportion of "Australian" fauna (and from that perspective things like babirusa could conceivably be included in exhibit areas, but it would specifically exclude things like gibbons or tigers) but it is different from Australasia itself as a geographical concept. New Zealand fits into Australasia geographically (i.e. the island groups of the Pacific) but I can't see how New Zealand could really fit into an "Australasian eco-zone" concept as although there are a lot of avian similarities there are quite obviously gross differences as well. In terms of the flora it could best be termed Gondwanan rather than any specific similarity to Australia.
I have only recently taken note that Sim has called our part of the forum Oceania! (Personally I've always considered Oceania to be a rather old-fashioned name, not really as good as Australasia)
That all makes sense. I've just been very singleminded in the past!
As for the Oceania Gallery, I think it's more for convenience than anything else, as it would include places like the Galapagos and Easter Island, which I definitely wouldn't consider to be a part of Australasia.
