Last modified: 2006-12-02 by ivan sache
Keywords: new caledonia | territorial and olympic sports commitee | bird (grey) | kagu |
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![[Flag of CTOS]](../images/n/nc@oly.gif)
New Caledonian sports flag - Image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 30 March 2002
The Congress of New Caledonia adopted on 16 October 2001 Decision #251 on sport in New Caledonia. This followed the adoption on 19 March 1999 of modified Organic Law 99/209 on New Caledonia. The Decision says:
Title IV. On the Territorial Olympic and Sports Commitee Article 19. The Territorial Olympic and Sports Commitee is the official representative organ of the sports movement of New Caledonia, made of the sports associations and leagues. [...]
Article 20. The Territorial Olympic and Sports Commitee is member of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (Comité national olympique et sportif français).[...]
Ivan Sache, 27 March 2006
![[Flag of CTOS]](../images/n/nc@oly1.gif)
New Caledonian sports flags displayed in Niue, 2002 - Image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 30 March 2002
During the Pacific Mini-Games held in 2002 in Niue, New Caledonia used the French Tricolor and a grey-red-grey pennant with the emblem of the CTOS. These flags were shown on a photography on the Mini-Games website (page no longer online).
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 30 March 2002
The emblem on the flag pictures a kagu standing
on the Olympic rings.
There are 197 species of birds recorded in New Caledonia, among which
23 are endemic, that is not found anywhere else in the wild. The
International Union for Nature Conservation (UICN) has listed 17
endemic forest birds of New Caledonia on the Red List of endangered
species, which includes 1,211 bird species worldwide. The most famous
of them and the emblematic bird of New Caledonia is the kagu.
The kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus) is the only member of the genus
Rhynochetos, which is the only member of the family Rhynochetidae. It
was trapped by the Melanesians, and later by the Europeans, for pet and
plume trade. The bird retreated to the interior of the island, where
its habitat was destroyed by nickel mining. The species is now
threatened by feral dogs and pigs; predation by cats and rats is not
documented. The kagu has full legal protection since 1977. It is
believed than less than 1,000 kagus still live in New Caledonia, mostly
in the South Province.
Most scientific publications on kagu were made by Dr. Gavin Hunt, now
with the Department of Psychology of the University of Auckland, New
Zeland and working on tool-making ability in New Caledonian crows. Dr.
Hunt worked on bird conservation in New Caledonia from 1991 to 1995 and
defended in 1997 in Massey University his Ph.D. Thesis entitled:
Ecology and conservation of the Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus of New
Caledonia.
He wrote the chapter on kagu in two references books:
Hunt, G.R. (2002). Kagu. In Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol.
10: Birds. Gale Publishing Group, Farmington Hills, MI.
Hunt, G.R. (1996). Rhynochetidae (Kagu). Pp. 218-225 In (Eds. del Hoyo,
J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J.) Handbook of the Birds of the World,
Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Sources:
Ivan Sache, 12 May 2006