2001
Author(s): 
Shane P. Mahoney

Newfoundland, with an area of 112,000 square kilometers, is the sixteenth largest island in the world. A wonder of geographic fusion, the region is a product of massive tectonic collisions and volcanic eruption which has remained relatively unchanged geologically for 400 million years. Like many other oceanic islands Newfoundland's mammalian fauna is an intriguing mix of low density but high distinctiveness, as the few forms which successfully ran the gauntlet of ocean currents, winds and ice, arrived, bred, and over a long period of isolation developed unique characteristics in body form and color, and often behavior.